My wife Donna and I met Rick several years ago at Glen Echo Resort. Our fondest memories were watching Rick and his family ride their miniture gas powered vehicles through the camp ground. Rick's favorite was his Red Radio Flyer Wagon. Rick was also a master mechanic. He had the tools and talent to fix anything. Several of us at Glen Echo purchased 5th wheels that had very flimsy entry steps. Rick came up with his own custom step design for our RV's and built several of them to provide us with safe entry to our weekend homes. Rick will be missed, he was a great friend.

I remember the year Rick dressed up as Santa and he drove this Red tractor down to the Walmart and we handed out Candy Canes. He had the Service Writers as elves I remember the excitement on the kids faces as Santa drove through the parking lot. Pickering's Automotive was truly blessed to have a employee like Rick. 

I will forever be grateful that I had the opportunity to work alongside such a great technician. His hard work and dedication to his craft was without parallel. His playful personality is one that is not often seen in automotive. I will miss having to keep an eye out for the next prank.

One of Ricks favorite things to do was throw or hide fireworks around the shop. From putting them underneath the toilet seat to shooting them out of a blow gun as you walked by. His firework shenanigans really kept us on our toes.

Rick also enjoyed cooking for the crew. At one point he built a cabinet to store all his cooking equipment. This wasn’t just any cabinet, he had built this elaborate contraption. Hands down Rick made some of the best meals I have ever had with this handmade mobile kitchen.

Some of the best memories I have with Rick are from our morning talks. Rick was always the first one at the shop and I would follow shortly after. Before the day began we would sit and drink coffee and talk. Our conversations always ended with Rick saying “next time come back when you can’t stay so long.”

Rick will forever hold a place in my heart. He put off a tough exterior but he was one of the most caring people I have ever met. I miss you my friend… until we meet again. 

Having worked with Rick for the better part of 20 years at Pickerings in both the old and the new building I can remember so many pranks he played on me and others. I think my favorite one was in the old building. Rick ran a hose up the wall to the top level where we had our parts area. I was on the phone when I heard a loud "pop" and then our parts guy made this startled sound...I looked around the corner to look upstairs, and here was a cloud of powder rolling down the stairs, and Paul standing there with lilac powder covering his chest! I couldn't even finish my phone call and had to call them back I was laughing so hard! Rick was a special man, a good friend and a great man to work with. I've missed seeing him since I left and know the hole that is left in everyone's life who knew him. He will be missed!

Thanks for the fun times, the memories, and never giving up on making me like wild game…I still don’t, but thanks to you, I can pretend!  I’ll miss knowing you are around…and your crazy, random text messages.  RIP my friend.  Have fun hunting with your dad, and dancing with Annette! 

I have many memories of Rick. This one is back when NAPA auto parts had the big ball caps strapped to the top of their delivery trucks for marketing. We worked NAPA's vehicles from time to time. I had an important meeting and needed to be on time. I ran out to my car, to see this BIG NAPA HAT on top of my car.  I knew it was a prank from Rick, I laughed, looked at Rick, and he was like 'what'? I got in my car and drove off to my appointment. Laughing all the way... ;-) I'll miss you my friend!

Rick has been in our family's lives for 29 years. We've been through some great times and extremely difficult times together. After Annette's passing, each year, Rick would send me a Happy Mother's Day text. That always touched my heart.  We had a special bond because we were both cancer survivors. We would swap stories about our treatments and encourage each other. One of my favorite memories was at a Pickering's Auto Service Christmas party. We were all to bring a white elephant gift. Rick had made bird feeders out of Mason jars and decorative glass plates.  They were beautiful! Definitely not white elephant gifts. After I stole them in the exchange, I threatened the staff not to steal them from me. Every Spring and summer they would hang in my flower garden out front, until this last summer, when the last one finally broke.  Now I'm even more sad about it. But every year when I plant my flowers, I will think of Rick and smile. You will be greatly missed my friend.

When I was younger and just starting at the shop I worked by washing cars and cleaning up the shop and anything else that was needed for maintaining the shop. One day after work on a Friday I went to dress out of my uniform to go meet up with some friends. I opened my locker to get my jeans and they were not in there. Initially I had to double take making sure I wasn't missing them, followed by searching through the locker room. When I came up empty, I began to realize what was going on. Someone had been messing with me. For the next 20 minutes I looked all over the shop as Rick and the other techs got a good laugh. Finally, I must have been tipped off to look in the freezer. Inside I found my blue jeans all scrunched up where Rick had sprayed them down with a squirt bottle every 30 minutes throughout the entire day. They were a block of ice! He really got me on that one. But over the years when he would tell the story, spraying the jeans down was never his favorite part. His favorite part was how mad I was because I wanted to go out with friends and I only had my jeans to change into. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to try to de-ice them by hanging them up in the wash bay and spraying them down with the hotsy pressure washer! This always got him laughing! There are many more stories that are similar to this one as he was the king of pranks. He will truly be missed, but his stories will always live on! 

The little saddle, hotdog little to cart things. None of you had them to ride them up to the bar.. Rick is already truly deeply missed