Richard (Rick) Francis Dvorak
July 21, 1966 – April 19, 2019
Son, Brother, Uncle or his favorite “Gruncle” (Great Uncle)
Richard F. Dvorak, 52, Sioux Falls, passed away from cancer at the Sioux Falls VA Medical Center on Friday, April 19, 2019, after spending the day surrounded by friends and family.
Visitation services with family present will be 4 pm-7 pm Friday, May 10, 2019, at Heartland Funeral Home, in Brandon, SD. Military Honors will commence at 5:30 pm. Memorial Services will begin immediately after.
In lieu of flowers, a memorial has been established.
Rick was born on July 21, 1966, in Sioux Falls, SD to Norman and Josephine (Vellek) Dvorak. He was the youngest of 6 children. He graduated from St. Mary High School in Dell Rapids, SD, and like his father and brother, Brad, he served in the military. Rick joined the United States Navy in 1984. He traveled the world and served his country as a Medical Corpsman on the USS Forrestal and USS Nimitz supercarriers and was a veteran of the Gulf War. He worked in the Naval Health Clinic in Corpus Christi, TX, where he honed his medical expertise. His duties were comparable to those of today’s Physician Assistants. He was also stationed in Bremerton, WA. Rick ended his 10 years of service with the United States Navy in 1995. Rick went on to work at Gateway in Sioux Falls when personal computers were in their infancy. He was everyone’s go-to-guy for anything tech. After leaving Gateway, he worked as a Pharmacy Technician and met many lifelong friends at Tel-Drug. He also worked at Prairie Rehabilitation Services and McDonald’s.
Rick’s infectious laugh along with a “how y’all doin?” was his typical greeting. He got that Texas accent after living there for only a couple years. But Rick loved his Navy journeys to countries all around the world and he always enjoyed sharing them. It’s that Bohemian part of him that loved to travel. Rick loved sending souvenirs home to his family from those different countries. Egypt, Israel and Paris were just a few places that he enjoyed talking about.
The thing that stands out above all with Rick, is his love for his family. He really enjoyed being with family and doing family holidays and outings. Rick had no problem manning the grill and he would throw a bunch of steaks all needing to be done at different temperatures and somehow he was always able to have them cooked perfectly.
He was the uncle that would bring home gifts for any holiday/birthday he missed when coming home to visit from the Navy. When he finished his service from the Navy he enjoyed making up for any missed time by going on vacations with family. He would take his nieces and nephews to the zoo and pick them up after school to spend time with them. He hosted Easter and would have his lawn littered with Easter eggs for his nieces and nephews to find and he started a tradition of playing softball on Easter. He taught nieces and nephews how to swim at Okoboji and was the first one in the pool with the kids. He was known as the strongest uncle because he could pick up his nieces and nephews with one finger. He was a prankster and known for his ‘dog jaw’ prank and going for cruises in his Bronco with the music loud, the windows down and hitting the best bumps.
He loved cooking, camping, board games, cards, and fishing. But one of his favorite things was technology and computers. You could always find extra parts, monitors or towers around his house. If you wanted to know how to improve your bandwidth or computer speed he was your guy.
He was honestly the best. If anyone at all, friend, family, or stranger needed a helping hand Rick was there in a heartbeat, whether it be to change a tire, fix a computer, cook or grill, drive a friend to the store or help you move, you knew that he would be there and he was truly happy to help you! His faith in God was apparent with his sincere “God bless”. He loved, respected and accepted people of all faiths, genders, ages and cultural backgrounds and enjoyed learning about all walks of life.
Rick will be greatly missed by his 4 brothers and sisters, 7 nieces and nephews, 12 great-nieces and nephews and 3 great-great-nephews.
Siblings include Brad Dvorak, Andrea (Al) Rausch, Chris (Tom) Dvoracek, and Ted Dvorak.
Nieces and nephews include Bonnie Dvorak (Brad King), Mary (Randy) Kapfenstein, Paul Moser (Katie Mertes), Ashley (Todd) Campbell, Kyle Dvoracek (Kristin Anderson), and Michael (Michaela) Dvoracek.
Rick was preceded in death by his parents.
He’ll be grateful missed by his second cousins in Pierre, SD…my fondless memory is to gave me away to my husband, Greg on our wedding day…he was very kind & helpful in every way because he was showing us everything in Sioux Falls too…he had a very funny sense of humor also…he took us everywhere in Sioux Falls…the saddest part is saying goodbye to him…thank you for serving your country in the Navy & we love you, Rick from Gregory & Fawn Kline
I worked with Rick at Cigna. He was one of the most respectful persons I have ever met. He will be missed. God Bless you Rick.
Just one of Rick’s regular 5am customers at the McDonald’s drive-thru. Rick always had a friendly greeting. He really appreciated chocolate cake with chocolate frosting–now I wish I had made it for him more often. I’m sorry to hear of his passing and send my condolences to all of Rick’s family. His smile will be missed!
My brother and I used to play with Rick and Ted when they lived in Parker in the 70’s. Thank you for your service and May God Bless. Plan on going to mass for Rick Tuesday the 14 at St. Christina in Parker. I think Andrea was in the same class as my brother and sister and Cristina was in my other sisters class.