Obituaries

Richard Frederick Rusch

ESCANABA -- Richard Frederick Rusch, age 75, longtime resident of Escanaba, passed away unexpectedly September 11, 2026 surrounded by loving embrace from his wife and children.

Richard started life on July 18, 1951, the second of four sons to Virginia Shomin and George Rusch Sr. He grew up in a charming green house by Snake Alley, only promenades away from Lake Michigan. He found early communion outside sledding on the hills of Ludington Park and skating at Royce Park in the winter, and swimming at his Grandma Hoyler's cottage in Ford River during the summer with his friends. He was a 1965 graduate of St. Joseph Catholic Grade School. During his youth, he was active in Boy Scouts of America, troop 444, and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church serving as a senior patrol leader and earning the rank of Life Scout.

He was the 1969 valedictorian of Holy Name High School, where he excelled in football, cross-country, and wrestling. He was affectionately referred to as "Spiderman" due to his low crouch on the wrestling mat and similar stance on the defensive line. Additionally, he consistently ranked in the top five male students academically.

As a young adult, he had a passion for automobiles, surfing, literature, poetry, and rock n' roll music. He especially loved Volkswagen vans and big four wheel drive trucks. Early in his formation, he began using his Volkswagen van for cross-country trips from Escanaba to California, eventually including his youngest brothers, David and Robert, in the art of questing in the great unknown. Always thrifty, they shared canned goods and stories with random hitch hikers across the Great Plains.

Richard started college at University of Michigan and transferred to Thomas Jefferson College, an experimental, semi-autonomous, student designed curriculum within the Grand Valley State Colleges system. He earned his bachelor's in philosophy in 1974, with a progressive take on challenging standard liberal arts programs that he would later apply with vigor.

After college he thrived on laying railroad for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad in Ohio, replacing stick rail with ribbon rail, working dawn to dusk while living in traveling rail cars. He was offered significant advancement in his career, but his principles carried him back to his hometown to pursue an opportunity in alternative education.

One weekend, Richard hitchhiked home to Escanaba from railroad work to explore a job opportunity and met Cheryl Daigneault at Baron's bar by chance in mutual defense of a bullied old man. They bonded over their shared love of water and what appeared to be a sense of whimsical safety, something that glued them together for almost 51 years. In his vows and always after, he referred to Cheryl as the girl with the rainbow glow.

In addition to getting the girl, Richard got the job. For 30 years he applied his grizzled work ethic and creative heart by accepting a position at Fitzharris Alternative High School in Gladstone as an English and Psychology teacher. Here, with a massive dragon mural on his wall, he taught students to take on responsibility and be modern working class heroes and thinkers, through classes like outdoor survival and automotive writing. A fan of his one ton GMC vans, he chaperoned and organized many field trips for his students. During summers, he took on work with Delta Schoolcraft Intermediate School District to continue teaching when many teachers recovered because he believed in always giving more when you were blessed and able. He regularly bucked the system as it became more standardized near the end of his career in favor of serving his students, many of whom credit him as a pivotal influence on their revival of hope and self-efficacy.

In between the foundational pillars of his work and family life, Richard was an intrepid traveler who explored the globe collecting and living stories. He was a shepherd, a dock hand, a vagabond, a journalist, a carpenter, and so much more as he explored the shores, peaks, and valleys of endless foreign and domestic lands. These travels informed and elevated his character depth in ways that often impressed and inspired those that encountered him and he often encouraged similar adventures for others.

In the faith realm, Richard embodied the teachings of Christ while rejecting the monotony and traditions of institutionalized religion. He approached a transcendentalist viewpoint and spent time seeing God in art, media, nature, and people of all walks. He chose to be involved in the congregation at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church alongside his esteemed mother, and took pride in delivering lessons and parables to his own children and those of others by teaching Sunday school and giving the occasional sermon. He always tithed without hesitation, cementing the ever-present truth that money had no hold on his heart.

Richard took great joy in being a father. The same adventurous spirit he lived and instilled was a gift given in hefty doses to Kristoffer and Heather, his beloved children. His offspring would jump at the opportunity to offload yard waste from the old Dodge worktruck, battle the waves of the great lakes at the family cottage together, or shovel snow at his side in the raging blizzards of the Upper Peninsula. He taught his virtues with grace and through lived experiences as well as epic voyages to capture frogs at Portage Point where many captives were brought home for his children. He guided his son through his entire Boy Scouts of America journey from building the pinewood derby hot rod truck in cub scouts all the way through the final badges needed for the last rank, with gentle, inspiring encouragement. In his signature style, when Richard's daughter graduated high school, they made a grand tour of the coast of Washington in the last epic one-ton van he would own. He never missed a single athletic event or performance of his kids and was always there, grinning wide with pride and a standing ovation. Many national parks felt the footsteps of the Rusch family as Richard showed his faith and philosophy in the natural world and baptized his children in what he felt were apex spiritual experiences.

In retirement, Richard said he would "prove the Great Gatsby wrong". To relive his youth, he pursued and successfully resumed work on the railroad for a few seasons. Intermittently, he audited creative writing classes at Northern Michigan University, chronicling autobiographical moments of his life, love, and reflections.

Up until he turned 75, he still enjoyed his collection of toy monster trucks and classic vehicles and added to it or gave it away or both depending on the gesture. All the way to the end he was an avid writer, reader, explorer, and lover of his wife, children, grandchildren, and a hearty dose of vegetables. Each and every move Richard made was intentional and full of love, brimming with wisdom. He would cry when he read or taught something profound, a sign that he truly believed and was impacted by the ideas he imparted. He was humble and open to the experience of learning, strong and sensitive, masculine and mellow; he was heavy and light and to those who knew him well: perfectly surrendered and free.

Richard is survived by his wife Cheryl Rusch, his two children, Kristoffer (Shelby) Rusch, and Heather (Connor) Rusch-Koplitz, and three (almost four) grandchildren; Helen, Miles, Hoyler, and Scout. He is also survived by his two brothers George (Asha) and Robert (Mindy) Rusch and five nephews; Nathan, Benjamin, Robert, William, and Bryan Rusch.

He was preceded in death by his parents; Virginia Shomin and George Rusch Sr.; his loving brother, David Rusch.

Richard was a storyteller in life with lessons, love, and true grit. He always believed in being the main character of your "life movie", picking excellent background music, supporting actors, and being absolutely present in this wild spectacle of life. He hoped that your story would be one worth reading and that you would take the time to author and direct it with providence. We hope you all do too.

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The visitation for Richard will take place at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on Sept. 26. A family-only visitation will start at 12 p.m., with the visitation being opened to the public from 1-3 p.m., followed by his funeral service at 3 p.m. and a robust luncheon at 4 p.m. The Skradski Family Funeral Homes of Delta County are assisting the Rusch family.

Richard romanced the spirit of surfing attire, only begrudgingly wearing suits when he had to. He will be wearing a Hawaiian shirt as we send him off and we encourage you to dress in tow for one last reunion with him on the beach of life.