By Harlan Garbell
As many of you know by now, our friend and long-time HumanistsMN member Dick Segers died last week in an automobile accident. Although I was not a close friend of Dick’s, I did have many occasions over the years to be in his company at HMN meetings and other events, including his several appearances at my Coffee and Current Events Meetup group.
Colorful and articulate, Dick had a unique view of the world around him. He would not generally accept conventional wisdom on most topics and one could tell he was proud to maintain his intellectual independence. And he did indeed have a keen intelligence.
However, what made Dick so special was that he combined that intelligence with a profound human decency which he put into practice through his activities. This included his participation over many years in our food shelf programs as well as his volunteer activities in a cause that is central to HMN — medical aid in dying.
In retrospect, Dick was a true humanist to his core. He was unfailingly kind and considerate to those he interacted with and he acted tirelessly on his caring and compassion for other people. In my view, that is a legacy any of our members would like to leave. We will miss you, Dick.
Read Dick’s obituary in the Star Tribune here.
Harlan Garbell is president of HumanistsMN.
2 comments
I would add that Dick was also an ardent atheist, which emerged in a heated discussion between us. I maintained that there is absolutely no evidence either way, whether there is or isn’t a God. Dick came back at me with an absolute defense of atheism, and we were at an impasse. But I respected him for it.
He was also an election judge, showing his profound respect for voting rights. ‘Nuff said.
And he must have kept a list of articles he would wield. because they came at me in a flurry if I emailed him a thoughtful piece he could take issue with. I learned to be very, very careful what I sent him!
Dick will be sorely missed at every discussion group, every monthly gathering, and every Food Group packaging event I attend. The room won’t feel quite the same without him.
I would agree with Mr. Segers, supernatural being is a contradiction in terms, a condition that is always false, like a three angled square. All Gods and Devils are just made up fictional characters. Not knowing that God is a made up fictional character is like not knowing that Spiderman is a made up fictional character.