Richard "Dick" Eick

Richard “Dick” Eick, of Red Wing, MN, passed away suddenly Monday, August 19, 2024, at the age of 81. His wife, Carol Eick (née Huenemann), was with him to the last. There are no words to express how profoundly he will be missed by his family, his friends, and all whose lives he touched.

Dick’s family will be arranging a celebration of his life to be held at future date. Memorial contributions may be made to Church World Service (https://cwsglobal.org/donate/), United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities (https://www.unitedseminary.edu/give/), or Goodhue County Habitat for Humanity (https://www.gchabitat.org/donate).

Dick - or “Rich” or “Richie,” as he was known in childhood - was born in Chicago, IL, the first child of Mildred Eick (née Olson) and Frank Eick. He grew up with his younger brother, Will, first on South May Street in Chicago and later in the suburb of Matteson, IL.

Dick received his BA from Kalamazoo College in Michigan, where he majored in mathematics, and completed master’s degrees in divinity and urban studies at Yale Divinity School and Yale University. Later in his career, he earned his Doctor of Ministry from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

Dick’s professional life was driven by his deep commitment to pastoral care and social justice in his role as a minister of  the United Church of Christ (UCC). His decades of service took him from urban congregations at Westmoreland Congregational Church in Bethesda, MD, and Bethel UCC in Arlington, VA, to the rural congregation of Zion UCC in Waukon. His adaptability was rooted in his dedication to learning the needs of the people and communities he served and to shaping his ministry to meet those needs.

In addition to providing faith leadership and care for his parishioners, Dick took an active interest in denominational governance and mentored many individual ministers on the path to ordination. Upon retirement to Red Wing, MN, he continued to serve the United Church of Christ in a variety of capacities, including as a temporary pastoral care minister for First Congregational UCC in Rochester, MN.

Dick raised two daughters, Alyson and Kendra, with his first wife, Gretchen Cassel Eick. With his marriage to Carol, he embarked upon a loving and devoted partnership of more than 30 years that brought his stepchildren, Kathryn and John, into his family. He loved spending time with all of his children and their families, taking a special pleasure in hosting summer visits from grandchildren, usually featuring frequent visits to the swimming pool.

A believer in taking action to make the world a better place, Dick was a dedicated participant in causes he believed in, dating back to his work in housing ministry as a graduate student in New Haven. In recent years, he found great joy in his work with Goodhue County Habitat for Humanity (where he was a board member) and celebrated wholeheartedly with every family whose road to home ownership was smoothed by the program. He also took great pride in being a member of Red Wing’s PFLAG chapter and a community advisor to Red Wing City Council member Vicky Jo Lambert.

In the days before his passing, he traveled back to his former parish in Waukon to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Growing Hope Globally, an organization that supports agricultural development projects in communities struggling with hunger around the world - and whose local Corner of Hope agricultural project he helped establish during his tenure at Zion UCC.

Dick paired his dedication to the communities he lived in with curiosity about the wider world, which took him to places across North America and Europe, as well as to Africa and Asia. While an undergraduate at Kalamazoo, he was a member of the college’s first cohort of students to study abroad at Fourah Bay College in Sierra Leone. Another memorable journey took place in the autumn of 1989, when he went on a church-sponsored trip to visit East and West German congregations: he was in East Germany as the Berlin Wall came down and learned about the historic event in the company of his East German hosts.

Dick always found time for pursuits that fostered his physical and mental well-being - from tennis, swimming, and cycling, to live theatre and music, to reading and writing, to supporting his favorite sports teams. Most of all, he relished spending time with family and friends. His love was palpable and overflowing, and it held us all in its warm embrace.

In addition to his wife, Carol, Dick is survived by his children and stepchildren, Alyson Shaw (m. Jessica Bumpous) of Cambridge, MA, Kendra Hardesty (m. Todd Hardesty) of Wichita, KS, Kathryn Stambaugh (m. Tom Mazzotta) of Albany, CA, and John Stambaugh (m. Karina Bull) of Seattle, WA; as well as by his brother, William Eick (m. Marilyn Eick) of Shelburne, VT. He also leaves behind eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.