Dr. Rick Toracinta

Happy Birthday Son

It seems like just a little while ago you raised your tiny head
and smiled at me for the first time and I smiled back with tears.
I now have only photographs to look at with tears in my eyes and see your beautiful smile. I know that things are all right with you
in heaven and I am so very proud of you. 

Son, you painted the world around you with love . You filled the world with color and in that way you gave such happiness, oh how we are blessed to have this memory of a wonderful Son who cared so much, you painted Our world with Love .

Happy Birthday Son, we love and miss you every moment of every day. 

Missing You Rick

I shall always honor and remember Rick as one of the finest students  I ever had.  One of the rewards of being a professor is watching  students grow intellectually, and become scientists in their own  right, and making their own contributions to knowledge.  I had the  pleasure of watching Rick become that scientists during our years  together in Aggieland.  It was with pride that I watched, at a  distance, him proving himself in a somewhat different specialty area  at Ohio State.  It is a deep personal loss not to see where that  growth would lead over time.  But more than the professional loss is  the loss of an outstanding human being who never failed to find ways  to help his fellow students.  Not a day goes by when I don't remember  Rick, and I think that all those who were with us at A&M will never  forget him. 

EZ

A Great Friend

I first met Rick in Jan. 1985 at SFASU. He was one of the first people who warmly welcomed me at the Catholic Student Center. We became close friends through my 5 years in Nacogdoches. We shared the same the birthdate. He was one year younger than me. I found out about his passing away a year later. I regret not keeping in touch with him. I last saw him in the spring of 1997.  I didn't know that it would be the last time. Rick was one of my best friends at SFA. I will always remember his devotion to our Blessed Mother. There was something otherworldly about him. I eventually became devoted to our Blessed Mother several years later, and it was then that I realized why Rick was passionate about the Church and his faith. The same thing happened to me. I am grateful for having known him. He was an inspiration to me.

Missing You Son

It seems like only yesterday, Angels came and took you away, In fact its been too long years. Memories of you still bring tears and always will.

You are on our minds and in our heart, even tho we had to part. Rick, you always had a smile to share, time to give and time to care.
Your loving nature and your heart of gold, you were the best this world could hold.

We love you Son and always will. Each morning I start with a broken heart, but  I carry on daily doing my part. The gates of memory never close, how we miss you no one knows. We are  wishing today as we have wished so many times before that God would have spared you a few years more.

Today, tomorrow, our whole lives through, we will always love and remember you.

In loving memory of our Son, He lived for those he loved and those he loved remember.

Missing My Friend

I missed your birthday by a few hours Rick, but nonetheless I'm always missing you out there on the trail of the storm.  Often on those long drives across the country I can still look over and see you there writing down the surface observations on a notepad as "Robo Man" calls them off on the radio.   I wasn't only a friend, I was a student even though you probably didn't realize it.  I miss the learning experience, I miss the laughs and I miss you my friend!