Conesus: On Wednesday, June 26, 2024 Richard took his last jet flight up in the blue sky to be with his son Jay. Rick passed peacefully with Barb by his side at their home. He was the last sibling from his parents, the late Peter and Helen Nowakowski of Lackawanna. He and Barb (Schuster) celebrated 67 years with his surviving children: Jeffrey (Janet) Nowakowski of New Orleans, LA; Jo Ann (Walter, Major General Ret.) Golden of Colorado Springs, CO; and John (Diane) Nowakowski of Oklahoma City, OK; 8 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Also survived by sisters-in-law Rose and Alice Ann Schuster, many nieces, nephews, and friends.
Rick graduated from Lackawanna High School and Erie Community College. He served in the US Army from 1957-1960 and graduated from the Army Language School studying Korean at the Presidio of Monterey in CA. He was also stationed at Fort Meade in Maryland and later worked with the National Security Agency as a cryptologist. After his military service Rick was employed for many years with G.L.F. as a chemist. He was also the Justice of Peace in Conesus for one term and later became the Assessor for the Town of Conesus and the Town of Caledonia, retiring in 1996 with 20 years of service. Rick was very involved with model airplanes and was a member of the Genesee Valley Aero Modelers.
Family and friends may call on Sunday, July 7th, from 2-4pm at the Kevin W. Dougherty Funeral Home Inc., 21 Big Tree Street, Rte 15 & 20A, Livonia. Rick’s Funeral Mass will be held at 10:30am on Monday, July 8th, at St. Matthew Catholic Church, 6591 Richmond Mills Road, Livonia. Burial to follow at St. Michael’s Cemetery, with military honors. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Livonia Ambulance, PO Box 8, Livonia, NY 14487, the Conesus Fire Department, PO Box 216, Conesus, NY 14435, or Livingston County Hospice, 2 Murray Hill Drive, Mt. Morris, NY 14510. To send a condolence or share a memory please visit: www.doughertyfuneralhomes.com
I’ll miss his smile. My thoughts are with you all.
Barb and family, so sorry to hear of Rick’s passing. Sending love and prayers to you and the family.
Linda Parkhurst
Aunt Barb, We are so sorry to hear of Brother Moose,s passing, now Vince will have his buddy back. our prayers go out yo you and the family. Grace, Sharon, Kris and Pat
RIP lunch buddy of 34 years. Best to you Barb and family. A couple stories from the past:
I met Dick in the summer of 1990 in Henry Kleman’s bar/restaurant in Honeoye; Dick was working for George Ward at the time I believe. Henry’s coffee shop had previously burned down, so all service was in the barroom at the time.
I’d seen Dick in there a time or two, and one day I happened to sit next to him at the bar. So we exchanged introductions and he told me a story about a program he’d seen on PBS. This is all paraphrased of course, as well as I remember, and I’m guessing Dick took a few liberties with the story:
Dick: “I saw a program on PBS about the natives in South America and the accuracy of their blowguns. They were about twenty feet long, and they pointed one up in a tree about two inches from a bird’s head and killed it, then excitedly exclaiming how accurate they were.”
I couldn’t stop laughing and neither did he. I’m thinking: “This guy has my kind of humor.” So then we started hanging around together for lunches, going to countless places over the years, nearly every day except Sundays. Dick and I would always come up with funny nicknames for other people. I was a self-employed machinist and made some metal parts for his planes over the years.
Sometime around the year 2000 he got into trying to time stock options. He wanted to sell his idea online, so I offered to build a website for him and we purchased the domain “www.beatthemarket.net.” So I built the site, several pages long, and how to purchase his CD with all the secrets on it; I was to get 10% of the gross. He did sell a few of the discs, and as I recall my total take was around $90 which I didn’t really care about either way — it was just an interesting challenge for me.
Sometime in 2002 — and I remember this because it was right around the time my mother died — he got nervous about getting sued or something, so we shut the whole thing down. No harm done, but it was an interesting project.
God bless you and your family, Barb. May Dick rest in peace.
Barb, Jo Ann and family
I’m offer you my deepest condolences. I haven’t any words enough to express my sympathy. My prayers are with you all.
My heartfelt condolences to Barb & all the family. ?????
Hi Barb, what a long and full life Rick led and nearly 70 years of marriage for the two of you. Much love to you and your family. Take care old and dear friend
So very sorry to hear. My heartfelt condolences.
The Veterans Outreach Center extends our deepest sympathy in Richard’s passing.
We acknowledge and are truly grateful for his service to our country.
So sad to hear of Richard’s passing Praying for his family.
Rest In Peace sir. You have so many to watch over, you have been admired and loved by so many. Mrs, Nowa, tears will remain for when you meet again, God Bless, Amen.
Greg
My thoughts and prayers are with you. God’s speed
So sorry for your loss. My heart and thoughts are with all of you.
Barb and families, I am so sorry for your loss. Thinking of you with love and prayers.
thinking of you today Barb.
Barb and family so sad to hear of your loss. Always had a lot of respect for Richard. Glad I talked with him recently. Great man. Rip sir