Richard "Rick" B. Organ

Richard "Rick" B. Organ, 80, of Amarillo, passed away on August 9, 2024.

Rosary will be said on Saturday, November 30, 2024, at 1:30 pm, with a Funeral Liturgy beginning at the end of the Rosary at Schooler Funeral Home, 4100 S. Georgia. 

Rick was born in Long Beach, California, to Ruth Irene Bennett and Cecil Bennett Organ. As a child, he lived for over ten years in Bogota, Colombia, as his father was employed by the Texaco Oil Company. After Ben’s retirement, the family moved to Pampa, Texas, where Rick attended junior high and graduated from Pampa High School in 1963. During the Vietnam War, he was drafted into the army, where he served with the 11th Armored Cavalry. After serving in Vietnam, he returned to the United States and stayed with his sister’s family in upstate New York, where he met Michelle Hartman. The couple married in August 1969, the same weekend as the nearby Woodstock music festival.

Rick and Michelle moved to Amarillo, Texas. They soon started a family and had two daughters. Rick worked as a sales representative in the Tri-State Area. He was often a top salesman for the company and made lifelong friends. As a person who liked to travel and talk to people, working as a sales rep was a perfect career for him. Driving made him happy, and he made it a point to read all the historical markers along the way.

Rick was an ardent supporter of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Longhorns football teams. He often posted the winning scores on his fence to gently tease his neighbors who supported the Aggies or Sooners. He decorated the fence behind his house with colorful memorabilia from Texas, New York City, Mexico, and beyond. During the holiday season, he invited the neighborhood to “hang what you dang please” on an improvised Christmas tree in the front yard.

He appreciated all kinds of music and seamlessly switched between Steely Dan, Los Tigres Del Norte, Bob Dylan, and countless other artists and styles. He often asked people, “If you were stranded on an island and could only listen to one musical artist, who would it be?”

He enjoyed attending his army reunions with the 11th Armored Cavalry. He was inducted into the Panhandle Veterans Hall of Fame in 2011. If one knew Rick for even five minutes, he would share his account of Sergeant Sahn, the South Vietnamese interpreter he befriended after almost shooting him and then reunited with him decades later in Houston. The most engaging story he told was about Sergeant Montana, his commanding officer in Vietnam, who was killed in action and saved Rick’s life in the process. Later in life, Rick sought out the Montana family, and they embraced him as one of their own. Rick was also quick to tell anyone who would listen - to follow the examples of John Lennon and Jesus Christ and “give peace a chance” and “love one another.”

Rick loved people, telling stories, cracking jokes, and talking to strangers in English and Spanish. His positive nature and sense of humor often brought a smile to the faces of people he had never met before. His opening line was typically, “Where did you go to high school?”. He was fascinated by people from different states and countries. For newcomers to Amarillo, he always wanted to know what brought them here and quickly welcomed them to the Texas Panhandle. His other frequent line was, “Where do you like it better – here or where you came from?”. When people invariably said “Amarillo,” it filled him with pride. He enjoyed exploring different restaurants and cuisines. He also delighted in showing off Amarillo to visitors by often taking them to attractions such as Route 66, Cadillac Ranch, Palo Duro Canyon, and others. While he liked to drive around, he made plenty of pitstops along the way to play Ms. Pac-Man or buy lottery tickets!

To quote Rick, he loved his family “with all his heart”. He is survived by his beloved wife, Michelle, daughters Angela (of New York City) and Kristin (of Austin), son-in-law Dave Powell, granddaughter Ivy Powell, and many other loving family members and friends, including the Montana family of Chicago, Illinois. He is preceded in death by his older sisters, Barbara (Barbie) Jones and Mary (Toy) Gill.

We say to Rick what he often said to strangers after their first conversation: " See you in Heaven.”

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle Or High Plains Food Bank