Richard's obituary
Richard Clark Kimmis of Edmonton died on March 5, 2023 at the age of 85.
Richard was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1937. He was a rebellious child, often cutting school to caddy at a nearby golf course or leaving church attend the local pool hall. His devout mother would never have approved, but since she never found out Richard was always the apple of her eye.
Richard's middling academics and low draft number led him to enlist in the US Army in 1961 and serve three years in Germany in an artillery company. That experience focused him on his studies, which led him to earn his BSc from Washington University in St. Louis. From there, he pursued his graduate studies in counseling psychology at the University of Alberta, earning his Masters in 1971 and his PhD in 1978.
Richard worked at first for Student Counseling Services at Athabasca Hall in 1971. In addition to practicing psychology, he gave vocational testing and guidance to many student athletes. He befriended Clare Drake, the longtime Golden Bears hockey coach, and enjoyed attending many of his games. In the early 1990s Richard became an associate professor in Educational Psychology, and taught the introductory course for teachers every semester, including for ten years after his retirement in 2003.
The move to Canada came with other changes. Richard was married twice, having recently celebrated his 34th wedding anniversary, and his marriages produced four boys 22 years apart. He played in a regular pickup basketball game for decades and was an avid runner and (later) cyclist. Richard traveled extensively; he was as comfortable on a bike in Paris as he was walking the beaches of Maui.
Despite a caustic wit, he became enmeshed with family and a large group of friends who knew him as caring, opinionated but thoughtful, and somewhat prickly but a huge sap. Richard was predeceased by his parents, Richard and Anabelle, and is survived by his wife Allison Theman and their sons Kevin, Michael, Benn and Ryan.
A celebration of life will be held at the Royal Glenora Club, 11160 River Valley Rd NW, on Sunday, April 2 from 1:00-4:00 pm. If you can please RSVP: https://everloved.com/life-of… In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Richard's name to the Edmonton Humane Society.
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Allison, of all the things that I could write about Dick, the most impactful for me, is that whenever we parted after a…
Allison, of all the things that I could write about Dick, the most impactful for me, is that whenev…
Allison, of all the things that I could write about Dick, the mo…