My wonderful friend………………………Ricki Fisher
Ricki was a best friend as he was to many. We became lifelong friends from the day we learned we would both be pursuing an Architectural education at the LSU School of Environmental Design.
I have so many fond memories and stories about the times spent together and with so many other friends that I could write a book. I’ll share a few short snippet’s for now.
We became roommates living in the Kirby Smith dormitory on campus and later seeking more freedom, our living arrangements progressed to living in an Apartment building on Alaska Street, right off of campus with 2 other roommates and with a new found independence totally and wonderfully absent of a campus meal plan. Ricki became known as F I S H + I was P I C.
Being roommates I learned early on, how passionate Ricki was about certain things and food was certainly one of many. His work ethic and other elements of life he found worthwhile pursuing were always met with his intense focus determined to be completed in success. We both lived by the ethos of work hard and play hard.
As ambitious Architecture students we found ourselves making a conscientious decision that our mutual best interests and option for our living arrangements, as students would be to rent a house and so our search began. As mentioned not only was Ricki passionate about food, when he latched on to worthy pursuits, there was no stopping him or us working together.
As things turned out we found a perfect little house to fit the bill. it was an awful green color but had a nice back yard and 3 bedrooms, and with potential, close to campus almost right across the street from the Alaska Street apartment building we had been living in.
Once in…………….Ricki and I stayed in that house for the duration of our remaining existence at LSU and sharing it with several other roommates pursuing Architecture degrees. There was Kevin Lovell, Bob Bodet and Ricky Kravet, who each did living stints with Ricki and I at the green house on Alaska.
The Landlord allowed us to add on to that rental house after Ricki and I pitched to him that we would provide all of the labor required for free, if he would in turn pay for the building materials to construct an addition large enough to accommodate a large studio for us Architecture students and he agreed to it, much to our astonishment. He even paid for a nice new wooden privacy fence built around the back yard and a nice graveled patio. Ricki and I were both into photography, he much more so than I, at the Alaska street abode. Having an in house photo dark room lab became a next part of our home expansion undertaking, to meet our wants and needs, as the Alaska street house continued to grow.
That house became known for many food themed parties over our several college years (it took us both 6 yrs. to complete a 5 yr. Architectural degree) taking place where both Architectural faculty and fellow students alike were invited and partook. I can vividly remember how smoked oysters became the main staple for many of those fabulous gastronomic gatherings. We would buy the oysters by the sack(s), shuck them in preparation for smoking each on an opened face half shell whilst smothered in lots of butter and garlic.
As roomies Ricki and I first started attending annual national AIA conventions and conferences as students. One such year Ricky, in his convincing way was able to obtain an LSU van complete with credit card for gas and expenses allowing us to travel across the country with our destination being Sun Valley, Idaho where that year’s convention was held.
We packed 8-10 students like sardines in that van for a much anticipated non-stop winter venture drive to Sun Valley from Baton Rouge. To our bewilderment we had some mechanical issues along the way about 10-12 hours into our trip where we had to have, if I remember correctly, a water pump and fan belt replaced in some very small town in route before being back on the road again. Other than that instance the remainder of almost non-stop trip took us over 17 ½ hours in very tight quarters. Once in Sun Valley I remember the highlight being swimming in an outdoor heated pool while snowing heavily amongst the picturesque ski slopes and I don’t recall much about the specifics of the actual conference. The pool was still rather chilly for most of us southerners, but luckily there was a sauna pool side and we quickly learned the best way to bear the temperature differentials was by maneuvering back and forth between the pool and sauna often.
While Ricki had and drove fervently, a silver and black Ford Capri I had a mustard color Toyota Celica. We took many adventurous trips in those cars and would take turns driving to local restaurants and the local grocery stores, often in search of the best food deals in town. We would stock up on groceries for weeks at a time splitting the bill and sharing the cooking and kitchen clean ups. Certain prepared meals were not complete without the standard house desert of blueberry and butter C O B L E R .
Throughout life Ricki and I always stayed in touch often meeting up for annual AIA conferences. We often would not speak for months on end and occasionally a year’ time may have passed but no matter what we always reached out to each other and would have prolonged conversations catching up on each other’s lives and reminiscing about times past.
I really miss my D E A R F R I E N D R I C K I………………farewell for now until we meet again.
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