A phone call from board member Rick Deneweth always ended with him saying, “I’ll talk to you.” On November 11, 2016, I got a call from a friend that was like a knife into my soul. Rick Deneweth was gone. He had passed unexpectedly, but peacefully, in his sleep at home.

Incredulous, I spoke loudly into the phone, “What? Rick Deneweth?” I thought it just had to be a mistake. Then, I slumped back into my chair as tragedy sank to my core.

In my years working at electric cooperatives, I have seen more than one board member pass away. Most of them were great board members. Rick was simply in a class by himself. He was always prepared, always thoughtful and, most importantly, always had the best interest of the entire membership at heart.

I first met Rick at a social event in October 2007. His wife, Connie, is the head of Traverse City State Bank. A smart, intelligent and active community leader, I was hoping that she would apply for a board vacancy we had at that time.

Instead, it was her husband who applied. I vividly remember thinking, “Who is this guy? Why would we want the second best for our members?” The board did their work and interviewed a handful of applicants. Rick was appointed to the Cherryland board and began serving our members in December of 2007.

I quickly learned how wrong I had been. Rick had a law degree, was a successful businessman and also a certified public accountant. He was joint managing partner for Copper Ridge LLC, owner/associate broker at Three West commercial real estate company and later co-owner of LC Materials. Still, over our years together, I often kidded him about being “Mr. Connie Deneweth.”

With all of this in his life, Rick never neglected his sons’ activities or his community. He drove his boys to hockey games all over the state. He was a supporter and donor to many youth hockey activities around Traverse City. Rick also played a big role in raising money for the Honor Flights that took World War II veterans to Washington D.C. He was a guardian himself on the second flight out of Traverse City.

In spite of his busy schedule, Rick still made room for quality time for the members of Cherryland Electric Cooperative. He stepped up his service six years ago when he was appointed to represent Cherryland on the Wolverine Power Supply Cooperative board. Just this spring, he became chairman of the board at Wolverine.

His lack of ego, immense talent and constant drive made him great. What made him special was his gift for lifting people up by just being who he was. It simply felt good to be around him. Unconsciously, you found yourself wanting to work even harder, do better and be better.

We would often ride to meetings together. We talked on the phone at least once or twice a month. Those were the best of times. We debated cooperative issues, political strategy and community politics. I knew I was out of my league, but I craved each small opportunity to try to keep pace. He always made me feel like I had.

I walked about the office on that dark November day clutching my cell phone in my hand. In between making sad calls to his co-op family and trying to think about all the details this loss forces on our business, I looked into the screen on my phone squeezing it so hard. I prayed that it would ring and his name would appear just one more time. Ultimately, reality sank in. With tears in my eyes, I simply whispered to myself, “I’ll talk to you.”