Born on May 2, 1930 in Seattle, Washington where his father Peter and mother Helen Zboyovsky were living at the time. He never knew his short stay in the States, although it made him an American. His mother died six months after he was born. He grew up in Ladysmith with his grandmother and Aunt Rose Juhoscik for five years until his father re-married and took him to Caycuse to live on a float house. They eventually moved to a house on land by the lake. He grew up there with his siblings Gloria, Peter, Dolores, Raymond and Marybelle. He went to school in Caycuse until grade 8. At age 15 he started to work in the woods and became a machine operator where he was building roads and loading logging trucks. In 1954, he married Marion, his wife of 62 years. They raised six sons: Charlie (Teresa), Dennis (Julie), Neil (Lee-Anne), Brian (Marie), Tim (Kurt) and David (died 1995). Also raised two grandchildren, Sheila since age 2 and a half and Sean since 1 year old, after their mother Leanne died in 1980. Other grandchildren Shane, Tyler, Renée, Teresa and Brooke, plus 10 great grandchildren. Richard was an avid hunter and fisherman. He loved his boat and guns and working with machinery. In 1995, after working for 50 years at Caycuse, he was forced to retire at 65. In 2013 on October 28th, he had a stroke that paralyzed his right side. He was in Victoria General Rehab for 4 months and could walk with a cane partly but mostly in a wheelchair. With his wife to care for him, he was allowed to go home to Caycuse where he spent his last 3 and a half years. He could no longer drive, fish or hunt but was lucky to have loyal friends and family to support him. He did love Caycuse and enjoyed his 81 years there and was definitely a Canadian. He died peacefully at home on December 20, 2016 with his wife Marion beside him. A celebration of life will be planned for late August 2017.
A Memorial Service for Richard will be held on Saturday, August 26, 2017 at 1:00 pm at Sands Funeral Chapel, 187 Trunk Road in Duncan BC.