Richard R. “Dick” Camlek

Richard R. “Dick” Camlek

Richard R.”Dick” Camlek, 80, of Black River Falls, WI, passed away peacefully at his home April 20.

Born Aug. 8, 1945, and raised in the tiny town of Beaver, WI, “Richie” would play his accordion in local taverns starting around age eight. Attending Coleman High School, he honed his skills at baseball, basketball, track and several musical instruments.  “Rich” and his lifelong friends, Ralph and Charlie, formed an old-time music band, “The Tri-Lites,” during those high school years and were part of enough hilarious and harrowing adventures to fill a book or TV series.

In 1963, “Rich” graduated high school and decided that working in a factory was not his career goal, so he enrolled at UW-Superior in the music education program.  He often remarked that he should have been granted some sort of advanced degree for bartending on the Lake Superior shipping docks and for surviving winters in Superior, which lasted 360 of the 365 days per year.

It was at UW-Superior that Richard met Rosalyn Lewis. They married in 1967 and moved to Black River Falls where he started his junior high/middle school band teaching career.  Thousands of Black River Falls music students from 1967-2000 can recall Mr. Camlek’s one-liners and phrases.  “Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades and drive-in movies!” was just one response he would give the school band students when they thought they were close enough to getting a song ready for a concert.

In May of 1985, Dick and Kathy were married. “Dick” was a true family man and thoroughly enjoyed sharing his many interests.  Camlek family gatherings almost always involved playing polkas, baseball, fishing, hunting and sharing a cold one.  His taste in higher priced beer seemed to improve immensely once Dan, Tim, Todd and Amy moved out.  Central a/c (instead of small oscillating fans), a riding lawn mower (instead of $5 push mowers that caught fire), a power ice auger (instead of an always dull spoon auger) and a paved driveway were just a few of the luxuries purchased for the empty nest.

Dick was preceded in death by his parents, William and Lillian (Carlson) Camlek.

He is survived by his wife, Kathy; children Tim (Shannon) Camlek and Todd Camlek, Dan (Diane) Schnick and Amy Schnick (David West); grandchildren Emma Camlek, Connor Camlek, Nora Camlek, Corey Camlek, Aaron Camlek, Liam Schnick, Austen Morales, Asher Morales and Lily Nichols; and brother Ken (Margaret) Camlek.

Thank you to St. Croix hospice for their kind care. Stokes, Prock, and Mundt Crematory in Altoona handled final arrangements.  In lieu of a service/visitation, the family has requested that you play a polka, raise a glass and loudly proclaim “na zdravje!” (nah-STRO-vee-ah) in Slovenian.  

Any monetary donations should be made to The Black River Falls Community Band http://www.bracband.org and/or the Black River Falls Evangelical Lutheran Church http://www.brgelc.org

“Ya done good!” Dick Camlek…Ya done good!

Cremation Society of Wisconsin, Altoona is assisting the family.  Online condolences may be shared at www.cremationsociety-wi.com.