Richard Allan Wedig

Richard Allan Wedig passed away September 27th after battling cancer for four years. He was born on April 18th,1945 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was the youngest of three children of Arthur and Janet. Richard leaves behind his wife, Suzan of 54 years. His family moved to Bonita Springs, Florida in 1961 and he graduated from Naples High School in 1963. He later graduated from Edison Jr. College and from the USF. His graduate work was at Syracuse U. and the University of Wisconsin. Until his retirement, he taught Spanish at Sebring High School for 38 years and served as organist at the First Methodist Church off and on for 21 years as well as other churches.

At the age of five, Richard became fascinated with the piano. He taught himself keyboard. He learned to improvise, transpose, and compose music by ear. He began piano lessons at age 8. By 12, arrangements were made for his training at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. In his college years he met his future wife, an aspiring opera singer, and became her accompanist and learned a new set of musical skills. It was perfect chemistry -- the marital bliss lasted for 54 years! Although they had no children, Suzan's influence was pivotal. It is thanks to her that Richard found his way to the church. Without her, so many wonderful things that followed would never had happened.

Beyond music, Richard had several other special interests. He loved learning foreign languages, including university degrees in Russian, French, and Spanish. He also taught himself Italian and Portuguese. He taught foreign languages for 40 years at high school and college level. During this time, he was awarded several grants including fellowships to study in Russia and Spain. He saw the potential of computers in teaching foreign languages. He learned to write software that created lessons to accompany his curriculum.

In 2005, he earned National Board Certification, a rigorous distinction which only about 4% of American teachers achieve today. Richard has a special love of plants, especially palms, ferns, bromeliads and orchids. He generally ended up giving the plants away to friends and neighbors, who would give them a good home.

Travel was another major passion. It fits hand-in-glove with foreign languages. He loved to ride the subways of European and Asian cities and walked the streets. He loved to speak to people in their own language. Richard and Suzan eventually visited all seven continents.

In 2021, he was suddenly struck with pancreatic cancer, and new, unforeseen challenges arose. A massive 9-hour surgery successfully removed the source of the cancer, but it had already spread. For years he continued to battle this disease with chemotherapy. It puzzled him that he never experienced pain. His thinking turned inward toward philosophical and spiritual themes. Richard couldn't be sure why but often wondered maybe he was spared the pain because he was meant to continue to fulfill his obligations. As the poet Robert Frost put it, "I have promises to keep and miles to go before I sleep." Maybe so, but he sensed something of those "strange and mysterious ways" we hear about.