Rick Bauer (3/10/50-5/07/17)
In Loving Memory
Simply stated, my father was my favorite person. Even beyond the bonds of our work making music together and our close relationship as father and son, he never ceased to amaze me by who he was. He was loving, gentle, generous, and wise. He was hopeful, discerning, moderate, and yet...filled with longing. He had a treasure of funny stories that involved some of the most famous people in the world from his years spent playing in clubs in the heydays of rock and disco, and he had an infectious belly laugh that betrayed his hippie persona and revealed something of his mischievous spirit. He believed, and he taught me, that God is a verb, a call to loving action in our broken world. He loved the Pittsburgh Pirates, making music, and being a father and a grandfather. He was a trusted friend and an inspiration to many, and he left us in the state of peace, enveloped in the love that he so earnestly sought after in his living years. There is no way around grief...but it brings me tremendous joy to know that nothing was left unsaid or undone between my father and I. I was able to let him know that I would be able to define my life as a success...if at the end of it all, I knew that my sons loved me as much as I loved him. I will miss him everyday.