Richard VanNote, 60, of Brown County, Indiana passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family and friends Nov. 13, 2019. Richard was born in Indianapolis, Indiana in June of 1959 to Ruth and Lawrence VanNote who preceded him in passing.
He attended St. Monica Catholic School until entering Pike High School where he graduated. He worked as a skilled pipefitter at Allison Transmission for more than 40 years.
Richard will be dearly missed because he was a remarkably kind and loving husband to Laura and father of Noah and Nicholas. He was also the beloved brother to eight surviving siblings. He was the sixth child of their nine siblings.
He is survived by Linda, Michael, Maryann, Theresa, Monica, Joseph, Stephen and Patricia.
Richard was very proud to be from a big family. He told everyone he met about them. He always demonstrated tremendous gratitude and respect to his mother for being an exceptionally strong woman, raising her large family as a single mother for many years while holding full time job.
Maybe because Richard was raised in a large family, he was friendly and outgoing to everyone. He never met a stranger. He treated everyone he met with endearing openness, starting conversations and making friends with everyone he met no matter what their station in life, from work colleagues, sales clerks to doctors. Everyone became his friend.
He was kind and generous with his friends and family and would always be willing to share his pipe-fitting and carpentry skills he learned from working at Allison’s Transmissions for over 40 years. If anyone asked, he would help them.
Richard was always a hard worker but he also had many hobbies and a tremendous joy for life. Even while he suffered in illness right to the last, he enjoyed his life. He loved to read. He cultivated many bonsai trees. He went out to eat and loved to visit plant nurseries with his sisters. He was game for anything as long he was in the company of the people he loved.
Richard loved animals and they sensed that he loved them too. All animals wanted to be by his side. He especially loved his little pug dog Tommy and his fishing buddy Wallace. They will miss him dearly.
Richard was not a member of a church, but was a deeply spiritual person. He would often say the woods were his cathedral. His quiet reflective time was spent outdoors appreciating the beauty of the natural world around the gorgeous hills of Brown County Indiana where he lived. He also enjoyed traveling to be in the beauty of Alaska and Arizona with his brothers Mike, Joe and Steve.
If Richard wasn’t working, you would find him in the woods or by a lake. Richard was an excellent hunter, but what he loved most of all was fishing. He was adept at every aspect from catching to cleaning and throwing big fish Fry for friends and family. Everyone who knows Richard called him the “the Fishing Magician.”
A life celebration for Richards family and friends , including of course, a fish fry will take place at The Church of the Firstborn Independent, 2032 State Road 252 East, Martinsville IN 46151 on Saturday, Nov. 30 at 2:30 p.m.
Richard believed strongly in conservation and taking action to help take care of the awesome gift of all creation. In lieu of flowers please consider a contribution to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Their mission is to ensure the future of elk and other wildlife.