Richard James Smith

Richard passed suddenly the morning of August 24, 2022 to the shock and sadness of his family and friends. Born April 9, 1968 in Saskatoon, SK, Richard was only 54 years old and is gone from us far too soon.

Richard’s parents Ian and Maxine (d. 2022) were both teachers, and the family lived in several places while he was growing up – Midale, Saskatoon, Halbrite, Spy Hill – and Richard, outgoing and extroverted, made friends wherever he lived and always had a close group to hang out with. While he couldn’t play most sports due to his risk of injury, he took every opportunity to be involved in other ways – from being the bat boy to managing the team - and accumulated as many trophies and medals as any of the participants.

From a young age, Richard was quick to learn and excel at anything that was showed to him. One day learning to drive a standard, to the very next day driving heavy equipment with over a dozen gears; one day being shown how to ride a motorbike to the next day riding it on gravel roads to and from work – he had an amazing talent for absorbing things effortlessly.

Richard met his wife Tammy in 1988 at work, and was hers forever. They matched wit to wit and laugh to laugh, and started slowly building a life together. Tammy came into the relationship with three children: Jason, Mel, and Amy Mohr, and Richard was busy early on proving himself as a stepdad and gaining himself a family. Richard joked that he got ‘his kids’ the ‘easy way’, because all he had to do was love them and Tammy fiercely, and that was very easy to do. Richard and Tammy got married in 1998, and were partners and friends all of their years together. Even when sitting at their separate computers, each engaged in a different game or activity, they were there, back to back, in the same room, in their home, together.

Richard was ferociously protective and proud of the kids, and was a constant, steady, and reliable presence in their lives, which is a wonderful gift in a bonus parent. Richard was also possibly the biggest teaser in any room – with his own kids, nieces and nephews, or really anyone’s kids – and they all just gravitated to him for the fun, adventure, and laughs. Eventually grandkids came along for Richard and Tammy, and Richard absolutely loved having grandkids. Austin and Hailey and Tegan and Rye-Rye were in for a lot of teasing and a lot of love from Grandpa, and he just truly enjoyed them.

Mourning along with Tammy, Jason, Mel, Melanie, Amy, Regan, and Jenn, are Richard’s brothers Cory (Joy) and Trevor and sister Linda Smith, brothers-in-law Jerry (Tammy) and Devin Chanig, his dad Ian Smith and father-in-law David (Lorna) Chanig, many nieces and nephews who have wonderful memories of being teased by Uncle Rick, and best friend Clint (Sharon) Common who was like family. Richard also had many great friends and long-time work colleagues that were special to him; it’s not the kind of thing he would express, but if he kept you around in his life then you were the ‘in crowd’ and dear to him.

Richard worked hard throughout his life, and was skilled and specialized in making doors of all descriptions. He shared his skill generously to everyone who needed help; after his death, immediate and extended family sitting around the table noted that he had been planning on coming to many of our houses to help us with our doors, or was making us new ones, etc. I think most of the family have doors in their houses put there by Richard, and he would put in a whole day’s work for us without asking for much of anything in return (maybe some coffee and lunch). It was just the kind of guy he was, the one that you could call to give you a hand or to help out when you needed it. Everyone should be as lucky as we were in our lives to have a Richard in it – someone protective, generous, and always present for us. We will miss him more than we can say.

Private Family Gathering will be held.