Richard’s parents were farmers in Uganda, where he was born in 1945. He had five brothers and six sisters. He was smart enough to qualify to attend boarding schools in Uganda before going to the University of Nairobi in Kenya. He met his wife, Margaret, while she was teaching as a Peace Corp volunteer in Uganda. They were married in Nairobi and his two sons were born in Nairobi – it worked out that they have been married 49 years. He moved to the U.S. and went to graduate school at Stanford University. He earned a master’s degree in engineering and worked for six years for a construction company in Minneapolis where he was a Project Engineer on a tunnel project in North Dakota. Then he owned a construction company for 10 years in Sacramento. His company-built levees, roads and bridges. Moving on, he worked for the California Department of Water Resources for 22 years building concrete and earthen dams. He retired in 2014. He joined Rotary in 2016, after having been brought to Rotary by his neighbor, Dick Bauer.

What Richard was too modest to say is that he pioneered one of the greatest projects that Carmichael Rotary has ever accomplished (from 2017-2019), building water wells to provide clean water for 10,000 people in his old neighborhood in Uganda. He worked tirelessly getting funds from other Clubs and with his Club’s help obtained over $200,000 to finish the project ($50,000 from District 5180 Clubs, and matching grants from District 5180 and Rotary International –to  make up the $200,000. He is president-elect of our Club and a real superhero!

 

I am a native Sacramento Boy.  I was born at Sutter Memorial Hospital in 1948 and was raised in the Arden-Arcade area.  Went to a variety of grammar schools (because district boundaries were changing):  Arden Church, Winterstein, Greer, Edison, and Jonas Salk for “junior high.” It seemed that in grade school, I was always “the new kid” in school and accordingly forced to develop social skills to cope. Encina High School was my school. All of these schools are now all are serving different educational needs. 

 

My father owed a salvage business (used machinery and equipment) where I learned welding, mechanical skills, and built my first motorcycle at age 15.  After school and weekends were spent working at dad’s shop.  Summers were spent working in construction, the salvage business, and working in warehouses in the then “embarcadero” or what is now “Old Sacramento."

 

I went to American River College (then American River Junior College), followed by UC Davis, Graduate School in Marine Biology, worked as a Marine biologist at the Bodega Bay Marine Lab. While at Bodega Bay I looked into a career change and applied to the California Highway Patrol, the State Fish and Game and Medical School.  Because my eyes were not 20/20 the HWY Patrol rejected me, Fish and game wanted me to be a research biologist and I was already doing that…so off to medical school at UCLA.  Surgery training and residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology was at the University of Pittsburgh, where I became an avid life long Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates fan.

 

Along the way I learned SCUBA diving, became a Diving Instructor hold a  “Master Diver” certificate. Trout fishing, backpacking, surfing, waterskiing, baseball, and Martial Arts (I have black belts in both Judo and Kenpo Karate).

 

Recently retired from Kaiser Permanente after nearly 35 years of practice…I have delivered over 2000 babies (I stopped counting at 2000).  I miss my patients, the practice of medicine, and my professional colleagues, but I enjoy all the extra time with my wife, kids (ages 44, 42, 31) and two grandkids (now 5 and 9).  Time in Hawaii, and fishing Montana are pastimes.

 

I enjoy the Carmichael Rotary and was chairman of their crab feed, and was a past president 2018.