Richard Shamblin - Online Memorial Website

 Where do I even begin to tell my Rick Rick's life story?  He was a beautiful soul with more friends than you can count.  He was a handshake man, a gentleman who opened the car door, etc... 
He was raised by a narcissistic surgeon father, a drunken tyrant, and a mother who had to "shelter" the Shamblin name.  Keep up the wonderful happy Doctor family image.  It was all a huge lie.  He hated his children or at least acted and treated them like he did and his mother allowed it to happen.  Rick was forever scarred by their actions.  
He spent his entire life trying to gain love and validation from his father, even offering him one of his kidneys.  That love and validation was never going to come, his parents weren't able to look past their own lives to love their children.
I fell in love and married a very damaged man.  Yet he was the most loving, romantic, compassionate man I have ever known.  Strange, he hid his pain well.  However, on that horrible day December 13, 2010, I can only guess something more powerful than he grabbed ahold and would not let go.  He shot himself in the head, laying on our bed as I sat on the couch in the living room.  
What a horrible sound of the pop of the gun, then his terrible scream... I broke into the bedroom to find the love of my life, my best friend, the person who made me laugh so frequent and so loud bleeding to death on our bed.
He was unable at that point to register the love his friends and my family had for him.  His was unable to see the fantastic talent of writing he had.  I have all his stories, some so funny you laugh until you cry, others so sad you cry... They are all stories based on things he or we had done, things we had done together, all true with just enough embellishment to make them crack you up.
Rick was always the first person to donate to a charity, ride his motorcycles in charity runs, help a friend or neighbor in need.  Always keeping the widowers in our neighborhood company.  
My children and grandchildren loved him as a Dad and a grandfather, Rick never had children of his own.  My children became his.  They all called him Dad, the babies called him Poppa Rick and Paw Paw... 
There is so much to tell about my Rick, He was a beautiful soul, the world will not be the same without him in it.  My life seems to have ended with his.  He was my soul mate. It took me a life time to find him and I only had him a short 6 1/2 years, but those were the best years of my life. I will forever cherish them.  
As long as I live, Rick's memory will live with me.

Born on April 27, 1954.

Passed away on December 13, 2010.