Obituary
Richard “Ricky” James Weeth
Richard James Weeth was born to John Basset Weeth and Elizabeth Jean (Watkins) Weeth Aug 27, 1961 in New Orleans LA. Rick was proceeded in death by his paternal twin Timothy Daniel (at 6 months old), both of his parents (John and Elizabeth) and his sister Pegi (Olsen) Weeth. He is survived by his older brothers Charlie Weeth and Bob (Sandy) Weeth, his son Brandon Weeth, nephews Robin, Shannon, Charlie & Ian and niece Lauren.
Ricky died peacefully of natural causes while playing guitar in his apartment in La Crosse, WI. His guitar was next to him and his amp was still on. Ricky has been a huge influence in the music community of the La Crosse area for decades. Ricky was a star. And as a star, he didn’t just shine, he burned. His brightness inspired many, guided some, hurt a few, but ultimately was a light in the darkness.
Rest peacefully, Ricky. Thank you for the joy you brought to the world. You are missed.
Sending Love and Light your way Ricky. You have always been a kind soul and you have the best heart. Thank you for reaching out and making this “new girl” from Nebraska feel welcome back in the fall of 1976. Art class rocked.
Dude, we’ll miss you. Glad Christian and I got to see you when you were up in the Cities.
One of the most soulful and gifted musicians around and a loss for the community. Rest In Peace brother.
Ricky/Rick James Weeth starred in my best Irish play in Aug. 2008, my sequel to–adaptation of Sean O’Casey’s classic “Juno & the Paycock”. Ricky/Rick always said it’s all about the music, & even in that play written by me he so superbly starred in, our play was titled “Song of Joy–Or the Old Reliables”, crucially inspired by my son Matthew’s flute rendition of Beethoven’s classic Ode to/Song of Joy. Our play wasn’t a musical per se, but there was plenty of great music involved in/with it nonetheless. Thank you, Ricky/Rick for being a great star to guide many people, including our cast/crew, our audiences & archivists, & relevant families as well. God Bless You & Yours, & Us All. We couldn’t have asked for a better person on the keyboard & guitar in life, & with your stage-voice too. RIP, RRJW, RIP.–From David Joseph Marcou, Matt’s dad & a prolific author-photographer.
I first met Ricky at The Root Note’s Open Mike on Jan 29th, 2015. We didn’t know each other in person, but I’d recently accepted his friend request on FB. That night I saw a man with long blonde hair and a long black coat breeze into the place. I heard someone say, “That’s Ricky Weeth”. When he got on stage, I was immediately impressed with his stage presence. I didn’t know anything about him at the time and was blown away with how good he sang and played guitar. I wrote him a few days later and asked him out for coffee. He always liked to brag that it was I who asked him out and not the other way around.
Ricky did very romantic gestures. On Valentine’s Day of 2016 we were in the process of starting to move to our new house in Galesville and he took some stuff up there, while I stayed at my old place. He was very late coming back, and I was getting annoyed. I knew him well enough at this point to know he had ADHD and was easily distracted – OH LOOK! A SQUIRREL! He finally came back, and we drove up to Galesville, when I walked into the bedroom I was stunned. He’d covered the bed with a layer of white and red rose petals. My irritation immediately vanished, and I was filled with love and started crying, no one had every done something like that for me.
When my high school friend John turned 50, we went to see Ricky play at Mary Cody’s, something happened, and he couldn’t play John’s favorite song “Hallelujah”. When we dropped Ricky off at his brother’s house, he took out his guitar and sang the whole song, right there in the alley at 1 am and performed it as if he was at Carnegie Hall. Because that was the kind of man and performer he was.
Ricky was generous, kind, intelligent, hilarious, a great sense of style and a consummate musician. He was happiest when helping people or up on stage. He will be greatly missed by his family, myself and many others.
I will end with how Ricky ended his phone calls, “Now get outta here, ya bother me!” LOVE YOU RICKY <3