An Extraordinary Life: ‘He was all about family and friends and faith’

Most people, when they met Richard “Dick” Arambasich of Shorewood, saw a kind and generous man, a storyteller, a person of great faith.

Many did not know the health challenges he’d battled, starting in his late 30s when he was diagnosed with an enlarged heart, according to daughter Tamra Williams of Darien.

Tamra said Dick underwent his first bypass surgery by age 50, followed by a the insertion of a stent in his leg artery and a procedure on his carotid artery. Dick had his second bypass surgery at age 74, when he was told “there is nothing more we can do for you,” she added.

But Tamra found another cardiologist who helped Dick through his heart failure, she said. Dick also had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a stomach ulcer, atrial fibrillation, pernicious anemia (which required vitamin B12 injections) and bladder cancer, she said.

Yet even toward the end of his life, Dick never had a bad day, said Debra Robbins of New Lenox, Dick’s other daughter, “You could always hear the smile in his voice” and he never lost his desire to “put everyone else first.”

“He was always about family and friends and faith,” Debra said.

Tamra agreed.

“He lived his life to the fullest, no matter how he was currently feeling,” she said.

Debra said her father was the first generation American of parents who immigrated from Croatia and Slovenia. He grew up near Broadway Street, the second-youngest of six children. He attended St. Mary Nativity School in Joliet and the former Catholic High School (now Joliet Catholic Academy), where he played baseball and was a “great catcher,” Debra said.

Dick met his wife, Julia, “the love of his life,” at the former Pioneer Garden Ballroom in Joliet, where they both loved to dance, Debra said. It was “love at first sight” for them both (“My mom said he made her heart race,” Debra said). The couple almost made it to their 60th wedding anniversary, she said.

“My dad had just a really fun, extroverted personality. He lit up a room,” Debra said. “And my mom is a very kind lady, so the two were a perfect match.”

Debra said her father served in the Army for three years. He and Julia began dating when he returned.

He saved and treasured the receipts from their wedding cake and reception. As the family grew, Dick worked at Caterpillar – saving all his badges through the years – working simultaneously as a deputy jailer because “he had such a great work ethic,” Debra said.

“My dad was so proud of his daughters and his grandchildren and his beautiful wife, Julia,” Debra said. “He doted on them to a fault. He just always wanted to make sure we had what we needed to succeed and to be happy, whether it was providing for our education or being someone to talk to. He always gave great advice. He was a man of great faith and he was always there for us.”

Debra said Dick loved taking his family out to dinner and meeting his friends for lunch, especially at Al’s Steak House in Joliet. He always picked up the bill.

“He enjoyed great conversation and fun over meals,” Debra said. “When I first got married, Mom and Dad had us over every single Sunday for meals. And then, we started having them over. And then, we started going out for meals.”

Tamra said when she Debra were growing up and came down with a virus, Dick would stop at the drugstore on the way home from work and buy a small toy to cheer them up. After they became adults, Dick always bought them an Estee Lauder makeup kit for Christmas, a gift that was always “just from him,” Tamra said.

“My niece got her first one this year,” Tamra said.

Tamra said she and Dick shared a love of football since she was in her 20s, and they would call or text each other during games. Dick kept up with the latest technology and Facebooked and FaceTimed with ease, she said.

Dick took Tamra, a single mom, and her sons to a White Sox game every year and bought them popcorn and cotton candy, Tamra said. They tailgated in the parking lot and Dick once helped Tamra’s youngest catch a ball hit by Derek Jeter at a Sox/Yankees game, she said.

In addition, Dick watched Tamra’s boys and dogs when she was on call overnight (Tamra works in health care), often gave her “extra money” to treat herself and the kids, and was extremely proud that she raised the boys on her own.

“He was such a great human being,” Tamra said.

Dick always had a project in progress – and he’d invite his grandchildren to help him. He grew beautiful flowers, brought holiday food to a group of Sisters he befriended and made humanitarian trips to Bosnia and pilgrimages to Medjugorje, Debra said.

He also was a “dog magnet,” Tamra said.

“I’ve had four dogs over my adult life,” Tamra said. “And every single one of them – and my sister’s dogs – they all loved him. If I was out walking with my dog and my dad pulled into the driveway, [the dog] would start pulling me home. I had one dog that would jump 3 feet in the air when he saw him at the door.”

Dick was 64 when he retired from Caterpillar, Debra said. But because Dick had “boundless energy,” he started a second career at age 67. Dick became a full-time bailiff at the Will County Courthouse, retiring at age 84, she said.

Former Will County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Baron said the family division in the circuit court, where he presided, can be a “high stress, high emotional” place. But Robert said Dick was well-suited to the job. Although Dick could have been reassigned, Dick continued working in Baron’s courtroom until he retired as a judge in 2013.

And Baron never wanted anothger bailiff except Dick, he said.

“He was a very perceptive guy, right from the beginning,” Baron said. “Bailiffs have to be very perceptive of people when controlling the courthouse. They have to be wise enough to know people so that the angry ones could be moved aside with easy handling. It wasn’t confrontational. … he was a good guy to have around.”

Baron said he and Dick arrived early – by 6:30 a.m. – at the courthouse so they could review the schedule for the day.

“He was extremely loyal,” Baron said. “He was a man I could share confidences with, things of a personal nature that he could keep confident. Dick also had a tremendous sense of humor.”

Baron said he and Dick had a few inside jokes that kept others guessing and a system for ensuring lawyers always wore a coat and tie inside Baron’s courtroom.

“I was a stickler for that,” Baron said. “But as time went on, things got more casual. So Dick and I picked out the loudest tie and the loudest possible jacket. Dick would spot them [the lawyers] and immediately present these things to them. They would immediately reject them and go out to ask another lawyer if they could borrow their jacket when they go into my courtroom.”

Because they attended the same church, Baron and Dick also saw each other at weekly Mass. When the priest said, “Let us offer each other the sign of peace,” Baron turned to find Dick, who already would have his arm straight up, “waving like a madman,” he said.

When delivering Dick’s eulogy, Debra said her father never missed Mass, even when he could only watch it on TV. He prayed the rosary each day for the intentions of others, never himself, she said.

“And even in his final hours, when Father Francis from Holy Family came to pray with him, my dad woke up, looked heavenward and folded his fragile hands in prayer,” Debra wrote.

Dick was 87 when he died April 9.

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.