Rik Handschin

Rik had Williams Syndrome and was blessed with many special qualities and abilities. Exuberant and infectiously joyful, his sweetness could take your breath away.

Rik was both serious and silly. A frequent statement of Rik's was, "You know, I'm really curious." He was curious about almost everything. His questions could be as varied as: "What is a conglomerate?" to "What are clouds made of?" He loved to do research on his iPad. Minutia was not trivial to him. For some things, his memory would amaze people. He was both wondrous about the world, and a constant wonder.

Rik loved to make people laugh as much as he loved to laugh. He loved languages, whether foreign languages or asking where a word came from. He made you think. Reduplicative rhymes (hodgepodge, hoity-toity), malarkey and murgatroyd made him giggle. His own family nickname RikRak was a reduplicative. Friends endearingly called him Rikki. He thought Zoinks! was the funniest word, loved cars that backfired and had a knack for cartoon imitations, including a perfect Donald Duck impression, "Aw, phooey."

In his younger years Rik painted and played the electric organ by ear. He loved numbers, math, calculating and quantifying. He loved catalogues, especially tool and art supply catalogues and artist paint companies, and compiling dollar amounts for now phantom orders of tubes of paint. Red was his favorite color.

He was very determined. Rik enjoyed skateboarding and riding his bike into his 30s. He loved electronics, from his early Atari game system to his old-school handheld electronic games to his cherished iPad. He especially loved dogs, and cows and owls. His favorite foods were pizza and PB&Js;. These past few years he methodically read the instructions and enjoyed building many Lego sets. He started the countdown to his next birthday pretty much right after his current birthday ended. When asked what he wanted for his birthday Rik answered, "Love."

Rik was proud of the work he did at Custom Industries sheltered workshop in Bellevue during high school and after graduation. The quantifiable results reflected in a day's production count were right up his alley. Rik was selected to participate in the International Special Olympics World Games in Indiana in 1987, was proud to win a gold medal there and at the local Special Olympics bowling tournament, and to bowl over a 200. He travelled in 1982 to Hawaii with a group, flew independently to visit aunts and uncles in the Bay Area, travelled to Europe and around the U.S. with his parents, and later cross-country with his brother. Pre-pandemic he enjoyed activities with Highland Center (and their great staff), bowling and Crossroads Mall. He enjoyed helping out at his brother's tow lot, working with tools, taking things apart, sorting things. He greatly enjoyed Easter Seals online activities during the pandemic. He had health issues, yet he was near bionic and heartfelt in his determination.

Rik loved sports, especially the Seahawks, tennis, the NBA (Sonics) and had encyclopedia knowledge of NBA, tennis stars and past games. He could recite 1970s-era and other player rosters of the Celtics, Sonics, etc., or other details that had caught his interest.

He could be impatient; he could sit and watch traffic for 3 hours. Everybody was Rik's best friend and he was an enthusiastic conversationalist. His friends meant the world to him and he would want them to know that. Rik was perceptive, compassionate and could quickly read a person's face or physicality for their feelings or illnesses. Yet to many he was a difficult read. He revealed so much in a look, a nod, a gesture, his beautiful green eyes. He could be the salve to your day.

Rik had no prejudices and especially loved meeting people from other countries so he could get to know them and ask them questions. He loved his housemates and caregivers at the adult family home where he lived for 6 years.

A bit of a savant, Rik was a whiz at memorizing numbers and information. In minutes he could memorize both the full logins and the passwords for 7 different Zooms a week. If you told him he was a superstar, he would say, "I'm just me."

Rik loved to read, loved his books on subjects as varied as painting, foreign language guides, DK travel guides, birds, owls, cows, steam trains, planes, trucks, and atlases. He loved oval-windowed VW Beetles and old "Big Boy" steam locomotives. He loved London and especially Heathrow Airport, researching travel routes and schedules, and weather around the world. He enjoyed having a set schedule in his life.

Highly in tune with sounds, his precision hearing could identify a siren before anyone else was even aware of it. He was a knowledgeable train and airplane buff. He recognized airplane engine types by sound, as well as owl and bird calls. He enjoyed identifying by ear the musical instruments in songs.

His music tastes were varied, he knew more lyrics than most, was interested in the histories of bands and singers, and memorized their birthdates and birthplaces. He continued to sing pop and rock songs loudly at home while doing his walking program. He loved the Beach Boys and, since he was a little boy, the oldies song "My Boy Lollipop." His favorite book as a little child was "The Little Engine That Could."

Rik liked to read obituaries. He was a beautiful, richly complex, smart man. His inner world was deep. He was so much more. He was fun. He was pure love.

To donate to the WSA in Rik's memory, click here