In all the years I knew Ricky Partain, he never walked on water. Some of us thought he could if the situation arose. I saw him at the beach, in the ocean, riding the waves as we would go body surfing. He loved being in the water.
I saw him on water skis as we learned to ski. It took us both awhile tolearn as Marcel and Floren would glide on their skis. Rick and I would spend alot of time eating water, gliding, sort of, on top of the water. Later, after we moved out here, partly to be closer to Rick, he would take us out to the lake and I would watch, in amazement, how well he skied. I have very good mind fotos of the days at Canyon Lake, he and I jumping off the cliffs. the short ones. And skiing from behind his boat. The first place he took us to when we visited was to go tubing. So, yes, I did see him on top of the water quite a bit. But he never walked on water.
I saw him at Roger's pool, learning to stand on top of a surfboard. It was back in the days when boards were 9 feet long. We tried to jump off the shallow end onto the board to see if we could stand on it. As we took a rest, Rick decided to try one more time. He ran and jumped on the board. He called out to us, "Hey, look at me". As we looked over, he fell back and the board shot up in the air like it was shot out of a cannon. It landed on the diving board across the pool. We didnt use Roger's pool to learn to surf any more after that. Rick was better off body surfing.
One time at 1000 Pines, our mecca all through high school, we had a diving competition. You would announce the dive and then proceed. Rick announced he was about to do a swan dive. As he jumped off the board, Marcel called out a very good QUACK. Rick lost it and looked like a bird shot out of the sky. No Points for that dive. But lots of laughs and lots of fun. Did I tell you that around Rick there were always laughs and smiles?
Oh yes, there was one time I saw him walk on water. Or so it seemed. We were up in the mountains, hiking along a creek. The creek was not very deep, but, none the less, you would get wet if you stepped in it. Someone came up to Rick to show him a small, very small, harmless at that, snake that they had caught. Rick screamed and his only escape was across the creek. As he ran, it appeared he was running atop the water. So, yes, I did see Rick Partain walk on water, so to speak.
Only two people are on record as walking on water. That phrase is reserved, now, for those who would measure up to the status of our Lord and Peter. It is true that Rick never walked on water. But he did know where the rocks underneath were to stay dry. He depended on all the rocks he encountred throughout his life. The Clemo Partains, the Merle Shorts, the Dan Foos, the Dave Falconers, the Rick Johnsons, and all the other men who helped shape him into a little bit of all of them to be who he was, and will always be to so many of us.
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