Richard Mirick

My Beautiful Husband

Our beloved father and husband, Richard “Dick” Mirick of York, Maine, passed away the morning of October 9, 2024, after a 17 year battle with progressive MS. Dick was born in Bryn Mawr, PA, on January 17, 1952, to Henry Dustin Mirick and Marion (Winsor) Mirick, and grew up in Ardmore, PA.

He attended Montgomery Day School and Proctor Academy, in NH, before attending New England College and the University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH. He moved to Portsmouth, NH, after UNH where his first child Jeremy, was born. He was in the National Guard during the Viet Nam war years and would tuck his longer hair under a wig as he made the trip from Portsmouth to Hillsboro, NH, for Guard meetings.

Forever a “Deadhead”, Dick would travel to Grateful Dead concerts and knew all the words to their songs (well mostly although he often improvised). Always a lover of nature and the outdoors, he was a skier, hiker, fly-fisher, runner and an avid cyclist. He often did bicycle tours that took him through the Great Pyrenees, Oregon, Canada, New Mexico, Colorado and Iowa. His love for cycling was always present from an early age but he caught the touring bug when he started participating in the annual Sunday River to the Sea ride every Father’s Day weekend and he continued doing that ride for years. Dick then started riding RAGBRAI, a bicycle tour across the state of Iowa that happens in July of each year involving thousands of riders. He joined a club of riders on RAGBRAI called The Whiners and along with his daughter Jordan they rode this tour together every year until MS made it impossible for Dick to continue. He cherished and maintained the good friends he met as part of The Whiners and he missed them terribly when he could no longer ride.

For over 35 years, Dick ran his own residential real estate appraisal company, Agamenticus Appraisal Service in York, before passing the reins to his son Jeremy. Dick loved his camp on Keewaydin Pond in Stoneham, ME, and especially his time spent on his friends’ classic Chris Crafts or paddling in a vintage canoe around the lake. Every year Dick hosted a “Boys Fish Camp” in Stoneham for all his close guy friends. It should be noted that no fishing whatsoever ever took place during Boys Fish Camp.

He is survived by his loving wife of 31 years Barbara (Coleman) Mirick and his children Jeremy Mirick of York, ME, and his partner Alexandra Thayer, Joshua Mirick and his wife Sadie (Shaffer) Mirick of Kittery, ME, Jordan McVeigh and her partner Mike Filippone of Virginia Beach, VA, his grandsons Henry and Winsor Mirick of York, ME, and his granddaughters Luca, Arie, Elliot and Maxwell McVeigh of Virginia Beach, VA, several nieces and nephews and of course his devoted dog, Emmett whom he adopted 17 years ago when he was first diagnosed with MS and who went to work with him everyday. Dick loved animals especially dogs, cats and chickens…but not monkeys….he was on the fence about goats. He is also survived by his former daughter-in-law Erica (Phipps) Mirick, and his former wife, Beth Raphael. Dick was pre-deceased by his father, Henry Dustin Mirick of Ardmore, PA, his mother, Marion (Winsor) Mirick of Ardmore, PA, his brother H. Dustin Mirick of West Stonesdale, Richmond, UK, his sister Marion “Wendy” Dick of Tesuque, NM, and his sister Heath Kennedy of Ardmore, PA.

Dick’s biggest regret was that his grandkids never got to know him when he was well and he never got to kick around a soccer ball or ride mountain bikes with them or take them hiking and fishing.

Dick was the kindest, most authentic person who did not care about public opinion. If he wanted to wear something, he wore it—bright yellow crocks with a button-down shirt or Kangol caps and an Outback full length coat. If he wanted to do something, he did it, hiking Katahdin and Knife’s Edge much to his wife’s dismay, taking crazy meeting notes in his role as Harbor Board secretary, jumping in the car and driving down to Yankee Stadium to see the Red Sox as they continued their march to the pennant in 2004, taking ballroom dancing lessons with Barb which did not work out so well, taking ski trips to Utah, Wyoming, or just Sunday River where he always held a season pass, or building a dinghy in 3 days as part of a weekend workshop (dinghy was held together by fiberglass and paint, craftsmanship was secondary).

What Dick wanted most was to be a good dad and he was so proud of his children and the adults they had become. He was their soccer coach, their biggest fan (especially when son Josh scored the winning goal for York High School to take the State
Championship), their source of embarrassment because of his colorful socks, their shoulder to cry on, their rock, and above all, a giver of unconditional love.

He found joy in living near the sea and even though he got seasick, he had several boats over the years and loved to go out to the Isle of Shoals. He even had an old wooden boat that was no longer useful so he took a chain saw to it and cut it in half to
make it part of a chicken coop….now referred to as re-cycling. He was one of a kind. Dick loved to travel and from an early age took safari trips to Africa with his parents and later Dick and Barb traveled to multiple locations in Spain, Wales, England, France, Austria, China, Ireland, Mexico, Hawaii, etc.

Dick was a fearless adventurer, renting a bike in Hong Kong and riding out to the countryside much to the amusement of the locals who saw a six- foot three inch guy on an old bicycle riding through the farmland. Or renting a bike in Vienna and riding up to the local vineyards or renting a bike in Skibbereen, Ireland, only to ride about ½ mile before the old bike got a flat and he had to limp back to town where a Murphy’s made him feel much, much better about the experience. Dick was happy just to be outdoors on a bike and explore.

His light will continue to shine for all who knew him and somewhere he has made a napkin into a Monty Python four-cornered hat and is wearing it proudly.

Please submit any photos you have of Dick to https://smugmug.com/gallery/n-3f5JHR and also download onto the Lucas Eaton Funeral Home website.

For his lifelong friends, Maura and Bob Reed, the family extends a special thank you for the support, love and laughs during Dick’s entire adult life. The family is grateful to Dr. William Coomey, the Beacon Hospice and the ICU unit at York Hospital. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the National MS Society https://www.nationalmssociety.org/, or the Animal Welfare Society of Kennebunk, ME. https://animalwelfaresociety.org/give/

Date for a Celebration of Life will be communicated soon.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Richard Mirick, please visit our floral store.