What a beautiful man - a perfect partner for the lovely Lina. He will be with us always.

I remember sharing  a love of rollerblading and kundalini yoga music: Snatam Kaur. (Has to be 20 years ago now) He was so open and so kind in meeting everyone where they are. 

One time when we were neighbors on Michigan Ave we shared a meal; I've mixed most the memories of the event with other enjoyable times with Dick and Lina but one is distinctive: Dick's carrot and orange soup. I've cooked a version it often ever since; its never quite as good as Dick's but it always brings back fond memories. 🥣🥣🥣

This is a memory from the mid-70’s shared by three women who to this day retain a permanent fondness for Dick.  Back then, we three had planned a trek from Chicago to Ventura, California, but the car we hoped to use fell through.  Dick came to the rescue, offering us his yellow VW bug!

The travels were filled with closeness, physically and friend-wise, as such adventures are. But as we were closing in on 100 miles from Denver, the engine died!  We called Dick.  Of course.  He bumped up his level of generosity and said, “Get to Denver and stay with my mother.   I’ll buy a new motor for you to continue the trip.  It would have died anyway if I were driving it.  Just get towed to a station.”  We were flabbergasted and deeply touched by his kindness.

We had a lovely stay with Dick’s mother, another source of generosity from both of them.  And then, the car was fixed and the trip continued to unfold.

We will never forget, will always be amazed by, and continue to this day to appreciate the man who touched our lives this way.  Dick Durning was a treasure, in the moment and in memory.  Our condolences to all who were close to him, along with our simultaneous knowledge that his good life lives on in all of us.

Thank you for this lovely site to share memories with others we do not know but who are part of the Dick and Lina, Nate and Laura web of life.

Robbie Weisel, Mary McCoy, and Pamela Putnam

Where Thomas Durning landed in Nova Scotia — with Charles & Susan Samuel, Nathaniel Durning, Laura Smith, Lina Cramer and Jamie & Liz Durning

A very wet hike! — with Charles & Susan Samuel, Lina Cramer, Laura Smith and Nathaniel Durning

First visit to Chicago — with Lina, Anna & Amanda Samuel and Nathaniel Durning

Dick and Lina officiating at our daughter, Cassandra, and Nathan's wedding — with Dick and Lina Cramer

David and I were very saddened to hear of Richard's passing.  Please accept our condolences and prayers for your family.

I met Dick when I was a first-year student at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Dick was a senior. I had a work-study assignment on a breakfast shift in the cafeteria. Not a good match as I hated mornings, but the good news was that I ran the "toast machine" which allowed me, unlike all the other servers, to keep my back to the breakfast line. The only other person who had this privilege was a guy to my right who was making pancakes. 

After about a month of this, never introducing ourselves or talking, he suddenly said, "How's Mom Sell?" 

"What do you mean? How do you know my mom?"

"My other job is in the mailroom," Dick said. "I love the way she tapes cartoons to the backs of the letter envelopes!"

That was the beginning. Of course, I told my mother about Dick. She began writing notes to him on the backs of the envelopes, along with the cartoons.

I transferred to the University of Iowa the next year, but Dick kept up a friendship with my mom. He sent her a gift of a book of New Yorker cartoons. He visited my family in Middletown, Iowa, a tiny village of 200 people. My parents visited Dick in Chicago. They kept up an intermittent but loving connection until my mother died in 1985, laughing all the way!

Ever since I heard that Dick died, two memories have surfaced and stayed with me.  Both memories come from meetings of Turnout Illinois, the friendship/political group I helped to start soon after the 2016 election.  The first memory is of a meeting where Dick and Lina brought two guests with them. We had a regular program (I can't rmember that at all), but at the end Dick said that if people wanted to stay, the two guests would be happy to speak with us about their work having conversations with Israelis and Palestinians.  It ended up being, for me at least, one of our most memorable meetings, and as I think about it, the 'peace-making' work that the two guests spoke of is so much like the deep canvassing that Dick advocated. Deep listening, deep human connection.  The second memory is from another meeting where the group conveners (including me) asked Dick to be one of several speakers who would discuss messaging.  I will never forget that Dick specifically approached me to ask for feedback; he knew that I was a bit of a skeptic about some of the messaging  approaches we were learning and he wanted to hear my perspective.  It was so obvious to me that he really did sincerely want to hear my views--it wasn't just a formality or a technique. It was real.  As I've said to Lina, I am selfishly sad and angry that I won't have the chance to get to know him better. All my love, Deb

Dick is my 2nd cousin and I always enjoyed being able to spend time with him when he was in Denver.  Always had great stories to share and was a good listener as he was very interested in other people and their lives.  I know he will be missed by all those who were fortunate to know him.  He made a positive difference during his lifetime and that's truly something his family and friends can be proud of. 

It is hard to find the words to express what a gift it was to know  Dick.  He was an essential,  guiding part of our Deep Canvass project here in Jefferson County - especially to me with all of the help and wisdom he shared for over a year.  As everyone said yesterday - he was kind, generous, insightful, curious and asked the best questions. He also had a great sense of humor and wide, inviting smile!  I think of Lina and his decades long friends like Cynthia and Nick -how much they will miss him. He  gave us many gifts that we keep in our hearts.  He often commented on how fortunate he was to have married well. His love for Lina, Nate and Laura was always present. Thank you so much for sharing yesterday, for the beautiful, beautiful pictures of Dick, living life to the fullest, with gratitude and love for his family, friends and the world.

Until now, I have had no memory of my life without Dick Durning. Growing up periodically visiting Chicago, surrounded by stories from my dad John and Marty, he has been part of the fabric of my life for 37 years (or 38? - there are hushed rumors I was conceived on Michigan Ave;)). There was one time visiting Evanston when I was in middle school riding in the car with Nate and Dick. Jay-Z’s song “Big Pimpin’” came on the radio and I thought - whoa this is cool that they listen to this music as a family- then Dick started rapping all (some?) of the words this immediately elevated him to "highly cool" status in my mind. That view of Dick remained and only increased in tenderness/complexity as I got to know him more and we discovered our mutual love of bike riding, cooking, spiritual quests and storytelling. Dick was the first person to teach me about blanching in the kitchen and his culinary passion really fostered my own.

I want to echo what Juanita and Gillian said during the shiva about inter-generational friendships. I felt that Dick never treated me like the child of one of his friends. He instead was curious about me as a person and that was incredibly validating growing up and I carry that with me. I was honored to be exposed to and participate in Wisdom Exchange, forming a zoom “pod” with Teresa and Lina to read and process Mary Alice Arthur’s book during the pandemic. I was and will continue to be touched by his interest in my art practice, coming over to screen my 16mm films in my living room and asking all the right questions to keep me motivated. It was so special to introduce him to my son Sylvan just after his birth and learn about Sandra Boynton children books. And to have spent an evening with Dick and Lina just a couple months ago - having a high time.

I will miss Dick’s marvelous book recommendations, griping about my dad’s politics with him and his cold calls just to check in. I kept wanting to reach out to learn more about Gifitval and his philosophy on saying thank you as I raise my son, but I didn’t get around to it, and I am so very sorry that I did not make the time. Dick’s sacred sense of curiosity, openness and refusal to harden into one way of being/living will stay with me the rest of my life and I hope to carry a fraction of his embodiment of this, forward. Ultimately, I am simply grateful that we got to walk on this earth together. His life was a gift to myself and to all that knew him. Lina, Nate, Laura - I recognize this time is so hard, sad and overwhelming. I am so profoundly sorry for your loss and send big hugs and big love to you all. I take comfort in this poem, thinking about Dick lovingly reuniting with those who have passed before him, in the next place, wherever that may be.

The Ship

What is dying


I am standing on the seashore, a ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.


He is an object of beauty and I stand watching him till at last he fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:

 “He is gone."


Gone! 


Where


Gone from my sight that is all.


He is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as he was when I saw him, and just as able to bear his load of living freight to its destination.


The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in him, and just at the moment when someone at my side says,


“He is gone"


there are others who are watching him coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:


"There he comes!"


and that is dying.

Bishop Brent

Thanksgiving with Dick and Lina

I am so grateful that I got to know Dick and got to live with Dick and Lina between 2010-11 in Evanston. I will always remember his love for cooking, music and smoothies as well as his ability to connect with me at a time when I was a recent undergrad which left an indelible mark in my life. His life and the way he led it with a full heart will forever be an inspiration to me. Thank you for showing what a mindful passionate life could look like! 

In Loving Memory:  It has been an honor to be with all of you and hear the loving memories of Dick. My time with Dick was way too brief but your wonderful stories fills the spaces that I did not know. My favorite moments is when he would stick his head in to say , Hi, when I was in a virtual meeting with Lina. My last time will be a month ago tomorrow. That smile that radiates through all of his pictures. I am still in disbelief but there are a couple of things I know for sure. His Love of people, he loved to engage in meaningful conversations and most of all his Love for Lina. I know that twinkle in his eye was his love for Lina. Well Thank You Dick for the brief moments and welcoming me in your home. You will be missed but the memories of you will be forever.  ❤️

So many things... in spite of his deep reservoir of skill and experience, Dick was always humble and open to learning. He was so generous with his time and expertise, and so loving, kind, and patient. He was also extraordinarily loyal and hung in there with the people and causes he cared about. I still can't believe he's no longer here on the physical plane with us, but he will always be there in my heart as a wise spirit and I will refer often to the many things I learned from him.

I met Dick I think for the first time driving up to Madison to a meeting of Wis Dems before the 2020 election. In a carful of strangers Dick characteristically got us all to tell our life's stories and why we were committed to political action in Wisc. He later was a major force in efforts of some of us in Chicago in a deep canvassing project that developed with our "cousins" in Jefferson Co. He was an inspiration in how he selflessly gave so much energy to every thing he was part of. I will try to share a photo and an article where he is featured prominently. If I cannot here I will send to you Lina. My heart goes out to you and the rest of the family. I hope it gives some small solace to know how impactful was your loved one.

Joyfulness at my wedding in 2016

Proud MacLeods — with Eric Dolson, Richard and Colin (C.J.) MacLeod

Dick Durning - a caring, empathic, generous, peace living, thoughtful, serving, heartful and loving family and community man! 

With love and respect,

Juanita and David

Dear Lina, Nate and Laura, we look forward to this afternoon's Shiva as a chance to share the loss we feel with your communities.  I love that I can picture him here talking about books, family and the world.  We will treasure those memories always. We have made a gift to Indivisible Asheville, where we are engaged in many issues that Dick cared about deeply.  We send our love.  Jennifer and Larry