James "Dick" R. Gregory

Dick (AKA the WV Cardinal, or Red bird) was a man of many talents. He was known to share his knowledge and passions to those who dared to inquire. He was consistent and was always a straight shooter. Like him or not, he always tried to be fair, honest, to the point, and normally polite. He had a great sense of humor, and loved to laugh and was one of the few people I have known who genuinely wanted the best for others. He often went out of his way to help people, or counsel people, or lend a hand if needed. Dick loved riding with his friends, eating BBQ, and would reluctantly share his brownies.

Dick had a rare grasp of the technical areas of life and often researched and understood every detail of a subject. He was very competitive, loved to go fast and ride hard and seemed fearless while riding. We spoke of this several times, and his answer was that he would always meet me at the end someplace if I didn’t want to ride that hard. To be honest, I could never ride as hard as he did and we both knew it.

He was my brother for all of my life and it will never be the same without him, but even though I will miss him so much, he really won, he is in heaven and there is no more cancer or pain for him. Dick was a born again Christian and never backed up from that position. He knew that he was going to heaven and that helped him a lot, but he loved life and would have liked to have stayed and ridden with his friends a few more rides.