Leo Bernard Rickmers was born in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania on Feb. 1, 1921 to Laura Kile and Otto Rickmers.  Leo passed away in Terrell on June 2, 2006.  He was raised in Hershey , Pa. , and entered the U. S. Marine Corps where he served with honor in the South Pacific, China , Korea . On Feb. 4, 1945, Leo married Edna Greenlees of Kemp , TX .  He graduated from SMU in 1952 and worked as an engineer for LTV for eight years.  From 1960 to 1968 he taught math and then worked as a guidance counselor at L. D. Bell High School in Hurst , Tx .  Leo moved with his wife and daughters to Europe in 1968 where he was a principal of American Military High Schools for the Dept. of Defense, serving in Germany , England and Japan .  He retired in 1983 and moved to Kaufman where he continued his love of teaching at Scurry-Rosser until 1998.  Leo was a founding member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Grand Prairie , loved wood-working and carpentry and was a devoted husband and father.  He is survived by his wife Edna of Terrell; son Leo B. (Rick) Rickmers, Jr. and his wife Carolyn of Arlington, Tx; daughters Tanis Skislak of Fairfax, VA., Kaaron Spotts of Brownsburg, IN and Reta Albertie of Chico, CA; brothers Albert Rickmers of Ashburn, VA, Bill Rickmers of Hershey, PA., Claud Rickmers of Berwick, PA. and Duane Sutliff of New York; and by nine grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.  Viewing will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. and memorial services will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Tues. June 6, 2006 at Parker-Ashworth Funeral Home.  Interment will be Wed. June 7, 2006 at 11 a.m. at DFW National Cemetery .  In lieu of flowers, a scholarship fund is being established in his name thru Wells Fargo Bank in Kaufman , TX .

When I am gone do not look for me at the cold grave, but instead know I am the gentle warm breeze that dries the tears from your soft cheeks, the soft April rain that starts the growing things you love so much; and the quick feel of recognition in a passing stranger’s eyes.  See me in the blue cloud studded sky, the waving fields of blue bonnets where we sat and had our picture made, on the beach of Padre Island or on the front porch swing, where we would sway to and fro from past to future to past.

Feel me in the soft summer breeze, hear me as the cricket chirps and in the voice of the lonely whipper-o-will.   

Look for me on the hilltops where we walked across the wild terrain, studded with magnificent trees so silent and aloof. Hear me in the wind chimes, charming you with my music and tickling you with quick frisson across the back of your neck when you realize it is me.  

Look for me now as the cattle lie in the sun, making sure the fish will not bite, in the shadows of the huge pecan and in the nut that taps on your head as you walk underneath. 

You can find me in all these places and more, in the magnificent vistas we explored together, in the keening call of the high soaring hawk as he anxiously calls to his mate and young, listen to the poetry of the early morning and the stillness of the late summer evening as the sky is painted for you.

By Edna Rickmers, based on a poem by Charles Clies of Cornwall.

Goodbye, My Radiant Soul
 

At final rest, I can yet see your Spirit glowing; a chimera
reflecting bright shafts of light from your radiant soul.

Sensing you were lingering here with me, reluctant to depart,
knowing the finality of your going from this world and not
knowing how long it will be until we are reunited in the next.

Looking at me with such understanding and love: Blinking in
acknowledgement of my silent love notes and my heroic efforts to
keep the tears at bay for just a little longer.

I knew that you were being called by a greater power than mine.
Forgive my stubbornness in holding onto him, Lord: we were such
great friends and lovers, you know.

Coming to this defining moment in my life knowing full well that
our time was so fragile that it would shatter in that cosmic flash
between being here and then not; knowing that our gifts of love,
happiness and joy would later weigh upon my mantle of sorrow;
and even fully accepting that one of us would know this burning
pain of loss and the soul wrenching grip of grief and heartache, I
cannot, will not, regret my many roads traveled with you.

My reflections will not always dwell in the dark shadows of
those last opaque and uncertain weeks.  I will remember you with
heart, mind and senses: in our secluded, intimate moments of
sweet, soft laughter and shared secrets and even the flares of
temper which we later doused with love.

I will remember your warm, comforting sleepy scent; the rumble
and stroke of your voice; and the taste of our summer vacations.
I will recall the tactile emotions my hands always experienced
when  they skimmed over the complex terrain of your skin.  But
most of all, dear love, I will remember you full of the sun,
laughter and beauty created by our complementary lives.

Come to me, prism soul, surround me, support me and then go
with peace knowing that you will always be loved and
remembered with longing.

Tanis Skislak for Edna Rickmers