Richard "Ritchie" Alex Garcia

Richard Alex Garcia, 21, left this earth to become our guardian angel on June 14, 2010. Ritchie was born June 21, 1988 at England AFB, Alexandria, Louisiana to Ricky and Elizabeth Garcia, formerly of Victoria, TX.

Raised in a military family, Ritchie visited many interesting places both stateside and abroad, thus sparking his interest of different cultures and geography. After Louisiana, the family moved to Tinker AFB in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma where he was living in 1994 when a Terrorist attack occurred and caused damage to a downtown hospital where his mother, aunt, and great aunt where inside working, while his father was deployed outside the country. Having been raised as the family #1, a callsign reserved for the second in command, he took great pride in helping to take care of his family during his father’s frequent deployments. He never forgot what he considered a terrorist attack against his family, and would feel very protective later when terrorists would attack his country.

Next, the family moved to HQ Us Central Command, MacDill AFB, Tampa, Florida. No matter where they lived, Ritchie always came to spend his summers back in Victoria and he even attended Dudley Elementary for a short time when the family was transferred to San Antonio. The family was next stationed in Stuttgart, Germany where Ritchie had the opportunity to visit England, Paris, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Euro Disney. With his church group, he visited former concentration camps in Auschwitz, Austria and Krakow, Poland. The family then returned stateside to Washington, DC. While still in Germany, the family specifically sought an ARMY JROTC program at Ritchie’s request so that he could continue with the Army JROTC program that he loved. After arriving in the DC area, Ritchie enrolled in his 9th different school and attended Thomas Stone High School where upon graduation, Four different colleges awarded him four full 4-year scholarships totaling over $180,000 in Army ROTC scholarships. He selected his #1 choice - the University of Texas at San Antonio where he was a Junior majoring in Geography and active ROTC cadet aspiring to serve in the Army.

Ritchie was proud of his dad taking part in the Gulf War. At the age of 13, Ritchie saw his beloved country come under attack on September 11 2001, and had the experience of living in a close knit military community overseas while his country was at war. All of these events reinforced a fierce patriotism in him and he decided he wanted to serve his country, too. He signed up for Army JROTC as soon as he was eligible, which was when he was in the 7th grade, and continued wearing a uniform until he died on Flag Day, and will now be laid to rest in his uniform.

Ritchie was very involved with volunteering in his community as well as being very active in his church. He was a strong ambitious young man who wore his heart on his sleeve and went out of his way to help anyone, anytime he could and was always in search of what was next. He is credited for teaching his brother, Isaac, to develop a strong academic ethic, and helped his little brother, Christian, make amazing progress as he developed despite his autism challenges. After leaving for college, Ritchie continued to work with autistic children as a volunteer in San Antonio via various UTSA sponsored events.

He had plans of joining the Army after graduating and providing the best life possible for his daughter, Isabelle, of whom he was immensely proud.

Ritchie is survived by his parents MSgt Ricky Garcia USAF (Ret.) and Elizabeth Garcia of Waldorf, Maryland; his two younger brothers Ricky Isaac Garcia and Christian Rene` Garcia also of Waldorf; his daughter Isabelle Marie Saiani of Wichita Falls, TX; paternal grandparents Ramiro and Maria Garcia of Victoria; maternal grandparents Andres and Lydia Munoz of San Benito, TX; paternal great-grandparents Antonio and Hilaria Camarillo of Victoria along with numerous aunts, uncles and cousins.

He is preceded in death by his cousin Robert Joseph Garcia, paternal great-grandfather Eduardo Gallegos, paternal great-grandmother Natividad Benitez Garcia all of Victoria, paternal great grandfather Felix Garcia of Refugio, Tx and maternal great-grandmother Natividad Esquivel of Kerrville, TX.

Visitation will be 5 until 9 p.m. Friday, June 18, 2010 at Colonial Funeral Home with the Rosary being recited at 7 p.m. Mass will be celebrated 9 a.m. Saturday, June 19, 2010 at Our Lady of Sorrow Catholic Church. Burial at Resurrection Catholic Cemetery

Pallbearers will be his brother Isaac Garcia, Uncles Nick Guerra Jr, Ramiro Garcia Jr and Juventino “Nito” Cavazos and cousins Nick Andrew Guerra and Robert John Garcia. Honorary pallbearers will be brother Christian Garcia, uncles Ben Munoz, Martin Rodriguez, Michael Alikhan and Robert Garcia Jr.

Although Ritchie is no longer with us, he would want for us to continue laughing. He was always the prankster and was fond of making us smile with his Fozzy Bear lines – waka, waka, waka. He often reminded us to “don’t cry, dry your eyes” and to “don’t worry, be happy”. His final wish was that we know that he is smiling down on us.

Arrangements by Colonial Funeral Home 1801 E. Red River, Victoria, TX (361) 578-3535.