Richard Allen Walker

The below was written by the deceased. Rich Walker croaked/expired/kicked the bucket/bought the farm peacefully surrounded by his parents(Gayleon and Dixie) and his youngest daughter, Ella. Other important mentors of his; grandmother Gladys Simmons and his neighbor and tough love father figure, Bob Flock, were close by too. Growing up, Rich constantly bugged his neighbor Bob Flock, a WWII vet that wasn't blessed with children of his own. Under Bob's wing, Rich learned a lot about decency and respect. After the war, Bob graduated from Indiana University on the GI Bill and was a huge IU fan, so Rich too grew up a huge Indiana fan. But after his neighbor's passing, when IU fired Bob Knight, Rich was done with IU. Rich loved watching the Cincinnati Bengals as a kid and developed a lifelong hatred of the San Francisco 49ers do to this. The best was yet to come though when the Indianapolis Colts acquired the best thing for football, drafting Peyton Manning. When the Colts let Manning go, Rich discovered he was more of a Manning fan than a Colt fan and loved watching him play for the Broncos. When Manning retired, it was the day the music died and Rich could not have cared less about the NFL or any other pro sport since. Just before his 18th birthday, Rich met a beautiful and far more mature soon to be 16 year old Trinna Mills that he would go on to marry. Trinna helped Rich be himself, pulling this shy kid out of his shell to become (for better or worse) the person he really was on the inside. Rich married a far better person than himself with Trinna. What Rich never saw coming was that when he became a father to Katarina on November 16th of 1999, the very best part of his life was just beginning. And to his shock, he adored Alaina and Ella every bit as much when they came along in subsequent years. You'll never understand true love beyond yourself until you see it through the eyes of a parent, and a boy that once questioned whether he wanted children found out they were the greatest gift a man can ask for. No person lives their life without error, and Rich made many mistakes in all areas of his life including parenting. Too much pressure, too little suppport, unrealistic expectations or too low expectation and even just being hurtful happen. As such, the worst nightmare a parent can ever experience fell upon on family on a Saturday morning, the 22nd of January in 2022. At any given moment, our world experiences incredible beauty and horrific cruelty simultaneously. There is no sunshine that is bright enough to spread its light onto the heart of a parent that has lost a child. Rich loved Trinna, Kat and Alaina more deeply than they'd ever comprehend. But a father losing his 13 year old baby daughter simply because he was unable to protect her from the evils we are surrounded by was a burden of heavy guilt Rich would carry to his grave. A parent that loses a baby sees the world through a darker set of lenses.