Dad was born to William Henry Reicks and Gayle Beatrice Didier-Reicks June 9, 1948 in Forest Grove, Oregon. The only son of now two children, his birth made the family complete. The family moved to Beaverton, Oregon when he was still a small child. The family loved their new home and settled in for many years. He graduated from Beaverton High School in 1966. During his school years, his interests were drafting, wood working, musical instruments (he was even in a band in high school), motorcycles and cars.
When Dad was 15, his mother died of kidney failure. A severe infection that went untreated for too long destroyed her kidneys. The staff of doctors tried everything possible. Even experimental procedures. The use of artificial and baboon kidneys for transplants were in their earliest stages. A transplant using artificial kidneys was their first attempt. The artificial kidneys failed to function properly. The second attempt was a transplant using baboon kidneys. This operation was a temporary fix until human kidneys matching her blood type were available. Grandma Gayle was the second human to receive baboon kidneys, the first woman. Albeit the threat of rejection was extremely high the baboon kidneys did operate until human kidneys matching her blood type were dontated. Although human kidneys were donated and transplanted, Grandma Gayle was too weak from the disease and multiple operations and she passed away soon after surgery. Grandma Gayle's death was something my Dad had difficulties with his entire life. Dad never accepted her passing.
During Dad's high school years, Dad's close friend was Jim Courtney. Dad and Jim became quite interested in motorcycles, dirt bikes, anything on two wheels. Dad started competing in motorcycle hill top climbing races and was considered in the top three hill top climbers in the state of Oregon for over ten years. Dad's size was always beneficial to the sport. Being a man of 6' 6'', Dad always said that when the terrain got too bad, he'd just stand up and walk the bike up the hill.
Marriage, The Navy, Vietnam and Children...
In 1968, Dad married my Mother, Cathy Coates. Shortly after their marriage, Dad joined The Navy. He went to boot camp in San Diego, California. After boot camp, he was sent to Jacksonville, Florida for A-School. He became an aviation electrician. He was only stationed in Jacksonville for about 6 months but in that time he went from just a seaman to a 2nd class petty officer. He was the only man in his squadron of about 200 men to pass every rating test. He also had a spotless record which meant if he had chosen to stay in The Navy, he would have had the honor to wear gold stripes.
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