Richard passed away peacefully on November 1st, 2022 at 1:35 am surrounded by his wife and children in the palliative unit at Burnaby Hospital after a hard fought battle with Cancer.
Richard was born September 12th, 1962, in Kamloops, BC. to John and Vilda Hall. He was the second of four children. Growing up was difficult for Richard, finances were tight, his mother struggled with mental health difficulties, the family was constantly moving and when he was 13 years old, Richard’s parents divorced. Richard’s answer to these struggles was to become determined, resourceful, and proactive. From an early age he took on many jobs in order to survive, and left school and home after grade 10 in order to care for himself. While he left school early, Richard was very bright and from a young age, loved to fix things with his hands. This became a lifelong hobby and he utilized these skills to get ahead.
Richard met the love of his life by chance when he was working at the Anmore Campground in August 1983. Richard acted fast as he only worked a couple of weeks with Sandy. He passed his phone number to her and had to wait for almost two months before receiving a call. Shortly after meeting and connecting with Sandy, tragedy struck, and Richard lost his younger brother and best friend Ken, as a result of a drunk driver accident. His relationship with Sandy was difficult as those around them did not originally support them being together, but it continued to grow and flourish. Richard and Sandy loved being together, they worked and played side by side for many years and married on November 2nd,1985 in a very small ceremony.
Richard worked many automotive jobs including an engine-rebuilding shop together with Sandy for several years. They bought and sold extra vehicles and together restored a 1967 Mercury Cougar. During the craziness of Expo 86, Richard and Sandy returned and became managers of the Anmore Campground and continued there until they decided to start a family. Before having children, Richard had wanted to have a steady job and upgrade his resume. He went back to school and received his GED, an industrial First Aid ticket, and his class 1 drivers license. He held down various jobs with this extra education and eventually joined the Brewery, Winery, and Distillery Workers - Local 300 union, and started at BDL in June 1994 where he worked for 22 years. During his time at BDL, Richard took on just about every role and was fond of being on the social committee and helping to arrange the annual Christmas parties and Golfing tournament events.
Richard and Sandy were blessed with two children. They had a son, Robert, born in 1994, and a daughter, Amanda, born in 2000. With Robert’s birth, Richard’s family life changed, and they bought their first home together in April of 1998 in Coquitlam, BC. It was a fixer-upper and took a while to complete because Richard would often be called into work at the last minute.
Richard’s spiritual life and relationship with religion had many twists, but his baptism was a turning point in his life. When he was baptized at Blue Mountain Baptist Church in April 1998 at the age of 35, Richard stated, “From reading the bible, I knew that God was a loving God and that Jesus gave his life so that we may be saved. Being brought up in a Jehovas Witness family, I didn’t like “Religion” because they scared us into submission.” Richard's spiritual faith gave him a sense of belonging and community. After inviting the Holy Spirit in, Richard expressed that “the Lord is now with me and helping me to make the right decisions for my life and my family’s life… it is a pity that I have but one life to give in the service of the Lord because we do owe so much more.” His spiritual faith gave him the conviction to help others in meaningful ways no matter what that looked like.
Another turning point in Richard’s life was when Sandy developed an autoimmune disease (TTP) in June 2002. Doctors communicated that Sandy was not supposed to survive, many goodbyes were shared and he had begun to wrap his head around losing his wife and having to raise the children without her. Miraculously, Sandy survived, but given her weakened immune system the family had to adjust to a new way of life with rigorous daily cleaning and keeping a germ-free house. This hampered Richard’s ability to socialize and help his community but he continued to give his time wherever he could. He became heavily involved with Burnaby Minor Lacrosse, coaching Robert’s team and serving as the club’s equipment coordinator.
Losing his brother and Sandy’s health concerns made it clear for Richard that he had a finite amount of time with his loved ones. As a result, Richard took an early retirement when he was able, in order to enjoy as much time as he could with family. He retired on June 16th, 2016 at the age of 53.
Following his retirement, Richard continued on with his hobbies and volunteering, but also made time to travel with Sandy and the family. They took several road trips across BC and Western Canada and went on several cruises to places such as Alaska, the Caribbean, and South America. Richard loved the outdoors, and would try to dip his gold pan in any creek following a trip to Barkerville. He was also known to hold the family hostage as he drove around looking for ghost towns he had learned about from old documents and books. One of the latter trips that Richard took was to the Island of Moorea in Tahiti. He fell in love with the place, and would later talk about Moorea as being a place where he felt truly at peace.
Richard regularly attended a bible study with other men from Blue Mountain Baptist church; he especially enjoyed the accompanying several rounds of billiards. He was also a member of the Lions Club and was officially inducted into the club in 2017. He enjoyed facilitating pancake breakfasts for children’s events and also assisted with getting eyeglasses collected for people in third world countries. As a way to remember his brother, Richard drove for Operation Red Nose during the holiday season. Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic he was a judge with Odyssey of the Mind and wanted to support the creativity and problem solving of the upcoming generation of children. Richard also financially contributed to many charities including the Greater Vancouver Food Bank, B.C Guide Dogs and the Canadian Red Cross, to name a few.
Richard’s final year of life was challenging. Sandy continued to have health difficulties and was awaiting a second hip replacement surgery. Richard began to feel ill and started to suddenly lose weight, he went into the hospital for the first time on November 11th, 2021 and by the end of the month received the diagnosis of stage 4 stomach cancer. Richard started two forms of chemotherapy by mid December and at the beginning of January 2022, was accepted into the Access to Hope program. This program allowed him to receive experimental immune cell therapy. By May, Richard was positively responding to all of his treatments and began to gain weight and feel stronger. Prior to his diagnosis, Robert and Taryn had been planning to be married in June 2022 in Whistler. However, due to Richard’s ongoing health concerns they organized a small, but beautiful ceremony in Vancouver that the entire family could attend. Richard was a legal witness to their marriage.
Richard’s health stabilized and scans showed a decrease in his cancer until late August. All treatments had to be put on hold when he came home with a fever and tested positive for Covid-19. As Richard was battling Covid-19, Sandy was in and out of the hospital due to complications with her surgery; all the while Richard’s cancer symptoms returned and worsened. He resumed all his treatments but his symptoms did not improve and the doctor informed the family that the immune cell therapy had become ineffective and was discontinued.
Richard continued with chemotherapy and did his best to keep in high spirits. Additionally, Sandy's mother recently experienced three consecutive falls, which landed her in Burnaby Hospital. After just one outing to visit her mother, Sandy, Amanda, Sandy's mother, and Richard contracted Covid-19. Richard again had to hold off on his cancer treatment. He quickly recovered from Covid-19, but continued to become weaker and experience more pain and cancer-related symptoms. On the evening of October 25th, 2022 Richard went by ambulance to Burnaby Hospital. In the coming days, the family was informed that the cancer had spread. He was taken to the palliative unit where hospital staff did their best to keep him comfortable. In Richard’s final days, his family stayed by his side night and day. Richard eventually passed away peacefully at 1:35am on November 1st, 2022, surrounded by his loving wife and children.
Richard is survived by his Wife Sandy, Son Robert & (Taryn), and Daughter Amanda.
His Father John & (Karen), Sister Joy & (Malcolm), Sister Betty, Nephew Brent & (Fiona), Niece Elizabeth and her family, Niece Caroline & (Carlos) and their family, and many other close friends and family. He is predeceased by his Mother Vilda, Brother Ken and Nephew Ken.
In lieu of flowers the family would like you to consider making a donation to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank: https://foodbank.bc.ca/?form=donate or the Burnaby Hospital Foundation: https://www.bhfoundation.ca/donate/ in Richard’s name.
Or as Richard was all about service, community, and giving back, We are certain that he would be very touched if you chose to donate your time by volunteering or giving back to the community.
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