Obituary of Richard Aesch

Richard Aesch

February 4, 1935 – June 18, 2021

 

Hi Dad

 

You always made a point of reading the obituaries in the Leader Herald (likely to make sure you weren't listed) and now sadly you are.  Since you've made "the headlines", we thought it made sense to make it an atypical remembrance, so that others who shared the same habit as you, might know you in a different way. 

 

If Alex and Marie (your parents) could have known that you'd be their longest surviving offspring, and still able to change the oil on the family riding lawn mower just weeks before you passed on at 86.5 years, they would be beaming proudly about that "farm boy spirit" they raised.  That is worth celebrating. 

 

As so many of your medical team would independently tell you these last years, as you dealt with cancer, your tenacity of  "needing to get up today and go milk the cows" easily brought you an additional 18 months with us.  Your spirit to do more has taken you far beyond what the science would have permitted --- it shows how your human spirit shone through.  That is worth celebrating. 

 

As a young boy on that farm on Route 29A outside of Gloversville; throwing stones, fishing, hunting and actually escaping being struck by lightning, you couldn't have imagined that you would be married to the same woman for 60+ years, adopt and raise 4 children and be "Gramps" to two more.  And yet, that was your path.  That is worth celebrating. 

 

The thought of life ending should hopefully inspire all of us to recognize that additional days are never promised.  Using your time with purpose and (as you taught your children, nieces and nephews, time and time again) having "our priorities straight".  

 

Hitting pop flies in the field by the barn, building a cabin by the pond, and even designing that fantasy ski lift up the hill over Sunday pancakes- your mind, time and energy has always been on the land.  While you invested hours away in factories, your joy came from working the land.  Anyone who knew Dick Aesch knew his heart swelled when he was on the back of a 50 year old John Deere tractor with grease stained blue jeans, no shirt on, somehow managing to sip a Budweiser with a toothpick in his mouth.  Country Folks and Hoards Dairymen stayed in business because of the Aesch drive to create energy from that earth.  That is worth celebrating. 

 

People would come from hours away to purchase your cattle because they knew they were the best.  And then they'd drive all the way back the next year.  Because they were always the best.  Nephews and nieces all wanted to hang out at the farm; sometimes for weeks.  It was better than any summer camp.  People could count on Dick Aesch.  That is worth celebrating. 

 

The ingenuity that you modeled for all of us-only our Dad could turn a pig scalding pot into a flower display.  Only our Dad could turn a barnyard electric fence into family entertainment.  Only our Dad could keep a 1930s era wire hay baler going just in case it was needed (and one day it was).

 

Whether watching a nephew or niece grow to do amazing things, your children model your commitments to others, or your grandchildren look after you with the care that you looked after them - you always took such joy in watching others. 

 

While none of us know if there are "sticky notes" in heaven, large rubber green barn boots or those infamous flat tooth picks --- we do know that there will be a man looking down on his family; with a sheepish grin, just enjoying a friends and family card game of Pitch, waiting to flip a Jack of trump suit out underhanded to the bewilderment of all. 

 

Well played Dad .... your Sandra, your children and your grandkids will take care of milking the cows from here and indeed … That is worth celebrating. 

 

Private viewing was held Monday, June 21, 2021 at Walrath & Stewart Funeral Home. Interment took place at Prospect Hill Cemetery, Gloversville.

 

Online condolences to the family may be made at www.brbsfuneral.com

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