Richard H. Svendsen, Sr.

Service Details

Racine – Richard Henry Svendsen, Sr., age 84, passed away peacefully in his sleep at home on Sunday, July 4, 2021. In honoring his request, Richard would like you to “Pay it Forward” by offering a kind deed to someone in need.

So……my Dad passed away quietly this morning, peacefully in his sleep. Thankfully, Trina and I got to see him a couple weeks ago and actually have him recognize we were there to see him. I think that was good for both of us. He knew that we travelled up to see him and I got to have some sort of closure with my Dad.

As a kid, my parents divorced early on, so I saw my Dad on the occasional weekend, when his truck driving route took him through the town we might be living in at the time. I did get a couple summer vacations with him, but those were rare and usually lasted about a week. Of course, I idolized him, wanted to be just like him, a truck driver someday with my own Peterbilt. He threatened me not to do that and wanted me to have a better life……but he honestly loved his life. He always said that he had run every road in this nation, along with many gigs in Mexico and Canada. He bragged that he saw every site to see in the USA, just had to do it at 70 mph! 🤣 He loved trucking and he was awesome at it. He got his first job by lying about his age on the application and the driving obsession began. He kept two log books, skipped weigh stations and ran hard when it was a game to make a great living if you could bend the rules. He was an awesome truck driver. He loved the heavy, tricky loads. He hauled pipe to the Alaska Pipeline project. He had one dangerous wide load that paid $9,999 on delivery……he always regretted not hitting that $10k mark. As much as he kicked ass at trucking, tried to be a good Dad, but he just never had the road map to get that one done.

In our adult life, we both tried to connect and become closer, but it just never worked out. He continued to run the highways and I started to build my little family. I always loved him and appreciated the things he tried to do for me, as well as my family when we were young and struggling. He always seemed to show up when we needed tires for the family car and didn’t have the money, or we were trying to scrape up the money to pay our insurance. He always told me that he was proud of me and I appreciated it. It was hardest for him, when he became too old to drive for a living and then when he couldn’t drive at all. I know he died a little inside when that happened, but it will happen to all of us eventually.

After he had to retire, our regular phone calls centered around his love for Star Trek episodes, his never ending desire to get his drivers license back (with ever changing schemes to trick the doctor) and great appreciation for Linda and Cheryl, who always came to visit him and let them know he was special.

I love him and I am very sad he is gone. That little boy in me still wished I could have known him better, rode in the truck more, just been in my Dad’s life. But the adult “me” knows that he did the best he could, he was a good person, cared for others and I respect him for that. He always told me that he thought I was an awesome father and I take great pride in that. I told him that he did help me with that, just in a different way. ❤️

You are free Dad, I hope you dropped by and said hello to Bill and Judy for a cup of coffee, but I am sure after that, you are jamming gears on a heavenly highway, getting that Peterbilt just over the posted speed limit and headed in the right direction.

East bound and down Pops, I love you and I will miss you.

Rick Svendsen Jr.