Did you ever see that old hippie in a wheelchair out and about? Rick was a freind of my pop's and an all around ill dude. He knew all about everything, but specialized in arts, african drums, kites, music, and smoke. He made a living, in Jacksonville, in the early 90's, as a kite maker! Dude had an ill Kite shop on the southbank riverwalk when I was a kid. Then, he got sick of paying rent and just made his own huge kit shop in his back yard. He was a professional kite maker. How ill is that?
Rick O'Shea, who brought the joy of kite-making and kite-flying to hundreds of people in Jacksonville despite being a quadriplegic, died in his sleep Tuesday at his Southside home. He was 51. The cause is still being determined. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. April 26 at Prince of Peace Catholic Church, 6320 Bennett Road, followed by a reception in the church hall. Friends said Mr. O'Shea was remarkable for his accomplishments and outlook on life despite his physical disability, the result of being critically injured in an auto accident that killed a friend in 1975. ''No person I've ever known who has walked made the impact this man did from a wheelchair,'' said Vincent Balanky, a friend since childhood. ''Rick was a hugely intelligent guy, and I can't ever remember him feeling sorry for himself,'' said a former business partner, Pat O'Rourke. ''He was such an inspiration to others.'' In a 1986 interview, Mr. O'Shea said his philosophy on life ''is to keep laughing and to look for what you can do. There's a whole lot no one can do and a lot that everyone can do.'' Born in Jacksonville, Mr. O'Shea graduated from Englewood High School in 1974. At the time of his near-fatal accident, he had enlisted in the Army, but had not reported for duty, according to his mother, Anne O'Shea. He started taking college classes while still in intensive care in the hospital when a therapist got a Florida Community College at Jacksonville professor to agree to take him as a student. The hospital people were wonderful, Anne O'Shea said. They rigged up a contraption that turned the pages on textbooks for him. ''He would dictate his reports to me and I took them down in shorthand and typed them for him,'' she said. ''It was just incredible and he got an A in the course.'' Mr. O'Shea eventually was able to use an electric wheelchair and a specially equipped vehicle to drive himself to classes at FCCJ and then to the University of North Florida, where he earned a master's degree in education with a 4.0 average, his mother said. She said she's getting phone calls from across the country from his friends who are learning of his death. Mr. O'Shea taught disabled children and young adults at Sunny Acres Camp and also became a part-time instructor at FCCJ. He found he could use his childhood love of kites to teach his students math, history and geography. He opened his first kite shop in a kiosk at the old Market Square Mall. Later came shops on Spring Park Road and at Costa Verde Plaza in Jacksonville Beach. But Mr. O'Shea was perhaps best known for KiteRigger's Kite Shop on the Southbank Riverwalk, which he and a partner operated from February 1988 for about five years. Mr. O'Shea was a fan of the arts of every type and launched a Vaudeville Night program where entertainers performed weekly on the Riverwalk for several years. He instituted programs with the Duval County public schools where children had Kite Days, making and flying their own kites. He also organized kite festivals throughout the city and at the Beaches, and hosted a convention here of the American Kite Flyers Association. ''Flying kites is a way to reach for the heavens,'' he told the Times-Union in a 1991. In addition to his mother, Mr. O'Shea is survived by his sister, Patricia Hollingsworth of Jacksonville. The family suggests memorial contributions to help support the work of Mr. O'Shea's missionary niece, Grayce Munyard. Contributions may be sent to Youth With A Mission, 501 Blacktail Road, Lakeside, MT 59922, marked for Grayce Munyard, Home of the Open Heart. jessie-lynne.kerr@jacksonville.com, (904) 3259-4374
RIP, Rick O'shea
CLOPS
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