At this time of Thanksgiving, I find myself especially thankful for the many friends I have had since moving to Los Banos 53 years ago.
Today I am particularly grateful to two longtime friends and colleagues, Chris and Rick Dahlgren. That gratitude today is mixed with sadness at the recent passing of Rick.
I came to know Rick Dahlgren well in 1985, when he was Director of Parks and Recreation in Los Banos, and I was a new dean at the Los Banos Campus of Merced College. We soon realized that we could work together for the mutual benefit of the city and the campus. Along the way, I came to know his wife Chris as an equally talented and congenial person, who also helped the Los Banos Campus.
I remember Rick working with me to develop a joint summer schedule for young people, a combination of city recreation activities and College for Kids classes. It was one of many ways over the years the Los Banos Campus and the City of Los Banos have worked together for the benefit of the community.
As I got to know Rick better, I recognized that he was “an idea man.” His mind was always coming up with ideas that would benefit the community. One example was Rick’s idea to create a Regional Ag Sports Complex on Mercey Springs Road by enlisting the help of the farmers and ranchers to turn a large empty lot into two ball fields that would serve residents both young and old.
He also applied for and received a grant to build a large concession stand with restrooms in the form of a geodesic dome, resulting in a place that would conveniently serve the players (usually young) and spectators (usually their parents) but also accommodate adults playing in softball leagues.
The Regional Ag Sports Complex inspired many people to get involved in youth and community sports, including Manuel Aguilera, who devoted many years to developing sports activities for young people, which is why the field at the complex is named in his memory.
Rick was also a good listener. When several community residents came to him with the idea of planting more trees in Los Banos and creating an annual Arbor Day celebration, Rick patiently listened, recognized the passion of these individuals and said “Go for it.”
He came up with the idea of including in the Arbor Day celebration contests for young people to enter, from kindergarten to sixth grade, in which they would create artworks or essays celebrating trees. Volunteers would select the winners and award them with tree saplings, which they and their parents could plant by their homes.
He then had the idea to create a Los Banos Tree Committee (later, the Tree Commission), which would help Los Banos become a Tree City, USA, a title it earned more than 30 years ago and still maintains.
And when local residents suggested that the city needed a trail lined with trees, a path which walkers, strollers and bikers could enjoy, Rick came up with the idea of working with CCID and developing a trail along the canal north of Page Ave.
He connected with CCID officials, and together they applied for and received a grant that provided the city with trees to plant and funding to create an asphalt walkway under them.
As he often did, Rick recognized and appreciated the talents of people who worked for and with him, not only city workers like Joe Sousa and Paul Cardoza, who served as managers in Parks and Rec, but in volunteers like Bob Edminster and Susan Spevak.
Rick asked Bob, a Los Banos Campus college botany instructor, to help him select the right species of trees to plant along the canal trail, which is why we have such a variety of tree splendor there.
The Los Banos Canal Trail serves as a testament to Rick and the people who worked with him to make it a reality. It has benefited thousands of people young and old who have used the trail since it was completed in 1998.
I also remember Loris Broddrick, when he served capably as Los Banos’ City Manager, telling me that he was grateful to have Rick working for the city because of all the good things Rick did for the community.
Rick later served as an adjunct instructor in P.E. for the Los Banos Campus of Merced College, an apt assignment since he was a star cross-country athlete at Fresno State and is now in the FSU Hall of Fame.
Besides knowing Rick as a colleague, I came to appreciate him as much as a friend, along with Chris. They were both kind and friendly to my wife Susan and then to my wife Sandy. We ended up sharing many good times talking and laughing together, including most recently when Sandy and I visited with Rick and Chris at an Elks gathering and then later by chance in a local restaurant.
Seeing both of them so “alive” not long ago made it harder for me to accept the fact that Rick died recently (on Nov. 8). It was for me another example of recognizing that life is fragile and there are no guarantees. It was also a reminder to appreciate and acknowledge friends while they are still alive.
Many who attend Rick’s funeral Mass at St. Jospeh’s Church on Dec. 2 at 10 a.m. will have tears in their eyes. The people who seem to us most alive in their lifetime are often the hardest people to lose in death.
I know Chris will miss Rick deeply, and I’m guessing that many people who worked for and with Rick, as well as his many friends, will miss him dearly, too. I know I will.
John Spevak’s email is john.spevak@gmail.com.
