Birth date: Apr 19, 1968 Death date: Sep 29, 2020
Richard Lewis McBride, Jr. passed away Tuesday, September 29. Rick was born April 19, 1968 at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio to Richard L. and Mary L. McBride. An exceptionally smart person, he attended school in U Read Obituary
My family moved to Columbus in the summer of 1983 right as the school year ended, leaving me with three months of nothing to do and nobody to hang out with. Almost daily I wandered up to the local bookstore to peruse the comic books, Dungeons & Dragons modules and cheap Del Ray sci-fi paperbacks. On most of those days I saw Rick doing the exact same thing. Over a few weeks we progressed from nods and grunts to comments to one day Rick just showed up at my front door and we started hanging out.
This was before being a geek was cool, and both Rick and I were exceedingly awkward and insecure, so we relied on each other a lot. I cannot count the hours of arguing about comics, rolling dice (and arguing about rules), listening to music, and watching Star Trek and Doctor Who reruns. I will bet if you would have asked either of us we would have said high school was a type of hell, but that stuff we did together was absolute gold and instead of trying to forget those awkward years they became worth remembering.
The group grew and shrank but we always hung out because frankly, we were a bit elitist about our geek credibility and most people just did not measure up. We spent many a Wednesday after school at Mr. Conrad’s Wargamers club, took clandestine trips to the better comic book stores on High Street (that was a lot of connecting buses back then) and dumped endless quarters into any arcade machine we could get to. There was a lot of Mountain Dew and endless social anxiety before they had a name for it.
We graduated in 1986 and our families both moved and by 1987 so had both of us. Pre-Internet meant staying in touch was letters (nope) and expensive long-distance calls, so we dropped off. But once the Internet became mainstream one of the first thing I did was look for Rick (who I found by locating his sister Amy on Classmates.com, thanks Amy) and everything picked up just like it never stopped.
Sidebar to Amy and David, yes, we were total jerks to both of you. But to be fair, that is what your older brother and his horrible friends are supposed to do (insert wink emoji here).
The dice were replaced by game pads, the comics were digital, and we talked about TV shows and movies the next day (instead of watching in someone’s basement) but it was not vastly different. And it was still glorious, and it will be strange to not discuss the next season of Star Trek: Picard and debate the merits of the next Doctor when Doctor Who resumes. Sunday afternoon will come and go without our weekly gaming session; not sure I am ready for that yet.
Rick was a complex man with a huge heart, a giant intellect, and an insatiable curiosity. Rick was difficult to get to know but so worth the effort and his loss is like a punch in the heart. He was quick with a joke, sharp with a jab and a reliable and honest friend. I was glad to reconnect with him and his sudden loss is still overwhelming.
I thought he was a good friend, but I now realize he was my brother.
And because he would be super annoyed that I am being this sentimental I will wrap up with a quote from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan...
I have been, and always shall be, your friend.
My deepest sympathies to Rick's family and friends...
Bob Bolin
