Message at the Graveside Service –
March 4, 2005
(David writes - "These were my notes for the 4th. I may as said a couple of different things, but this captures my heart and prayers for you and your family.")
Charlene, Girls, Thanks you for asking me to offer this prayer today. It is a great honor for me to be asked. Many of you do not know me, but I am one of the Air Force pilots that served with Rich in
Kuwait
and later at Nellis Air Force Base. We enjoyed the opportunity to fly together many times. I have to say that Richard Vizcarra was one of the best Flight Surgeons I ever worked with in the Air Force. Rich and I had not seen each other in quite a while, but we shared great joy when we learned of Lauren and Zeta birth after the many challenges you all faced. I know these girls are a blessing to you. I have been thinking a lot about Rich and about Family, Faith and Friend. Charlene, I know the past few months have been a great struggle. Charlene you are a hero to Thresea and me and we are so sorry for your loss.
Rich’s struggle and his step towards faith remind me of the story in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke about the Roman Centurion. Many of us in the military look to that Centurion as an example of Faith in service to our country. This story reminded me of Rich. While Jesus was in
Capernaum
, the Centurion went to him asking for healing of a beloved servant. This Centurion was a man of the sword who commanded 100 Roman soldiers – the toughest soldiers in the world. But scriptures tell us he loved his country Israel and that he cared so much for his servant that he – in a step of faith – asked Jesus to heal his servant. This Centurion reminds me of Richard – Strong and Tough, yet a man of Faith, Family, Friends, and his nation. Let us go to the Lord in prayer.
Father God, It was just a little while ago that we found out that Rich was sick and it seems like a blink of an eye, and now he is gone. You tell us not to worry about tomorrow, but it will be very hard to do. Rich asked us to celebrate his life and we will, but we mourn his loss and look to your hand for comfort. Richard Vizcarra was a man with a healing touch and we ask for your healing touch on is family. We pray for you to lift up Charlene, Lauren, and Zeta. We thank you for the awesome and powerful way Rich touched our lives. Finally we ask that you would forgive our shortcomings. We look forward to the day we can see Rich again, to give him a big bear hug and to turn with him and have him show us the face of Jesus. We thank him for the sacrifice he made for us on the cross and we pray all these things in the name of Jesus.
Message from Richard Vizcarra’s Celebration of Life –
March 6, 2005
(Again, David writes -
these are the notes I spoke from. I know I added a few things, but I do not remember the specific "ad libs")
Last Thursday night, it was
12:34
on the clock, Rachel, our youngest, popped her head into the bedroom door and said she couldn’t sleep. I asked her why and she said she was just to busy thinking about life. You know the way 10 year old girls think about life. Well I tired my best to help her get to sleep, but then promptly woke up Thresea and did a hand off to Mom. Now of course I started thinking about life and this weekend and I couldn’t get back to sleep. I know there have been a lot of sleepless nights over the past few weeks.
Well it is very difficult to capture my thoughts about Richard Vizcarra and his time in the Air Force in just a few minutes. Rich had a huge impact on the Air Force – not because he led a major defense program – which he could have done brilliantly and better than may be being done now, or not because he led men and women into combat, which he surely had the courage to do, but because he had a huge heart and really took care of people.
Now, I first met Rich – or Doc V – as we called him, in
Kuwait
when he deployed to support our HH-60 helicopter unit after Desert Storm. Now, if you had a name that we thought was hard to pronounce you often got a call sign or nick name like Doc V. Well we were in a small rescue helicopter unit that was forward deployed at
Kuwait
International
Airport
. I am sure Rich was a little perplexed when he arrived in
Kuwait
. Pilots and aircrews can be an interesting group of professionals. It really is much like my meeting all the Doctors that were part of Richard’s life. You guys are a great group of professionals (the guys gave me $5 to say something about Evan at this time), but like pilots you can be slightly intimidating. Since this is a celebration and Rich loved jokes and I have so many great doctors out there I want to do an audience participation joke. So here we go – Doctor, I hurts when I do this (raise my arm) – Audience says “than don’t do that.” Well, one thing I have to say is thank goodness there aren’t any lawyers out there – Just kidding Al. So Richard stepped into the world of helicopter pilots. Pilots who generally try to avoid doctors and who just want to fly no matter how bad they are feeling. So how did we meet Richard – Well we were busy preparing for a mission (we had heard that a new flight doctor was in town) and we walked to the chow hall and it was closed. It seems that Richard had done an inspection on the kitchen and had closed the place down. Well our chow hall – which was considered one of the best in the theater – was closed and we were now eating MREs or Meals Ready to Eat instead of hot food – Everyone wanted to meet this new flight surgeon. Honestly, we weren’t too angry and he was looking out for our health. In fact we took a liking to Richard. I am not sure if was his professionalism, concern, or just his boyish good looks, but truly it was his enthusiasm – he wanted to experience life at its fullest.
This was a time in
Kuwait
when we did not have the terrorist threat and the nation was rebuilding. We had free reign of the country and Richard took advantage of many opportunities. Just imagine the sights – the open desert and the many tents in the desert, the sounds – the roar of nine lanes of traffic crunching through traffic circles and the noise of the flying helicopter, and the smells – some good and some bad. Since I was very busy as the squadron weapons officer and chief pilot, I asked Rich for some help. I needed to buy a rug for my Mother-in-Law. Rich was a great shopper – especially with other people’s money. He searched all over town and finally found the right shop with the right selection of rugs. I was able to go downtown with him and in 20 minutes I had my rug. My Mother-in-Law loves that rug and to this day thinks I agonized over the decision. It’s a good friend who can make your Mother-in-Law happy. Richard experienced
Kuwait
to its fullest. He went gold shopping, to the camel races, ice skating (that’s another story), and found only the best restaurants. I never had as spicy food as we ate in the little Indian Restaurant in downtown
Kuwait
City
. It was a very interesting time.
The real reason we were in
Kuwait
however was to provide combat search and rescue coverage for the pilot’s flying over Iraqi. That mission was Rich’s priority. He loved to fly with us as we trained and worked hard to make sure we were ready for any medical contingency. He did however push a few rules while we were flying. He shot the machine guns, slid down the fast rope, climbed the rope ladder, and rode the hoist. I am pretty sure he even took a turn parachuting out of the helicopter, but I can not confirm of deny that. His enthusiasm was boundless.
(I did not say this at the service, but one day we went flying to take our Pararescue Jumpers or PJs parachute jumping. The PJs were specially trained combat recovery specialists whose job it is it to recovery and medically treat the pilots and Special Forces teams the helicopters go out to recover. The PJs are a tough group of guys and Rich was so physically fit that he could keep up with them on all their training. Well, anyway, we were doing static line parachute jumping and Rich talked the PJs into providing him a parachute and he went on a jump. I was pretty angry with Rich as the pilot-in-command because it was my job to keep him safe. Anyway, there was nothing he did not want to challenge himself with and he was always competing with the PJs and often beating them at their mission training.)
Well after Kuwait Richard and I served together at Nellis Air Force Base. There he loved the each chance he had to flight in the fighters or the helicopters. He really did enjoy the jets better. He also was a great doctor and friend. He was willing to take a phone call at anytime, if one of our kids was sick or if we needed him to work us in for an appointment. He would even come over to the house or have us bring our children over on the weekend to get their ears checked. I also remember the day he and Charlene came over to the house a few days after Rachel was born. It was clear to me as I watched Charlene hold Rachel that they would be great parents someday.
Finally, I remember Richard, the husband, struggling with his decision to leave the flying he love to make the next step in his career and to take care of his family. We talked and I listened as his excitement over leaving for his new residency grew, but some sadness crept in. We sure missed him as he moved on to the next chapter of his life.
Well Richard Vizcarra was an awesome officer and Flight Surgeon. Many of those who served with us in
Kuwait
have been lost in accidents, combat or to life’s challenges – Ed, Kenny, Jeff, Justin, and now Richard. In closing I would like to read a poem by John Gillespie McGhee, a fighter pilot who flew and was killed in World War II.
High Flight
Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth and danced the skies on laughtered silvered wings.
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun split clouds and done a hundred things you have not dreamed of.
Wheeled and soared, soared and swung, high in the sunlit silence, hovering there I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious burning blue. I have climbed and topped the wind swept heights with easy grace, where never lark or even eagle flew.
And while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod the high untrespassed sanctity of space, I put out my hand and touched the face of God.
