As I sit here and try to find the words to write about Dick Booth, I am flooded with adjectives and pronouns:  Actor, comedian, local celebrity, gardener, painter, writer, playwright, mechanic, special effects technician, electrician, funny, compassionate, gifted, salesman, generous, Director…the list just goes on and on.

How do you sum up one’s life?  Dick died at home on Wednesday, June 9 with his family at his side. 

Dick and Freddie, his wife of 40 years, were vital to the health of Little Theatre on the Bay for many, many years.  Dick served as President of the board for 25 of those years.  During those years, he acted in plays, directed plays, built sets, ran lights, produced plays, and gave teen-agers opportunity to act by writing shows that revolved around teen-age life.  Many of the kids who acted in those plays got bit by the theatre bug and have never recovered from it.  Many of them are still active in Theatre today!

I want to tell you some stories about Dick’s theatre life.  Dick Booth and Susie Wahlberg in “Damn Yankees:  Dick forgot to zip his pants up after a quick change and his shirt was peeking out the fly.  Susie, who played the seducer “Lola” walked to the edge of the stage and adlibbed to the audience “This is going to be easier than I thought.”

And there are so many more wonderful stories.

Dick loved comedy.  When the theatre took over Opry in the early 80’s, Jill Hanson and I decided to dress up like Dolly Parton and sing a duet on “Dress like your favorite Star” night.  In order to make it work with the song, we changed the lyrics to “Here they come again” and we each had inflatable chests that we would pump up on the choruses…kinda like “Dueling banjos”, only it was dueling chests.  Imagine our surprise, when out walks Dick in the exact outfit with a mop wig, and even when we were at full extension, we couldn’t match his chest!

He loved to garden and one season when his zucchini plants failed to produce; I told him I would bring some for him.  I put them on the snack bar counter and went about my business.  A little later when Dave Ford walked in, he asked “What are these?”  I quipped “Those are Dicks’ just as Dick arrived.  Needless to say, nobody could talk for a few minutes; we were all laughing so hard.

Dick was probably the most long lived, hardest working President LTOB ever had.  You can imagine how many people, through the years, he worked with.   He wasn’t just a paper President, he worked, well not exactly hand in hand, but closely with all the House Managers repairing, patching, building, and wiring, anything that got broken.  While working with Tim Hanson in the light booth, Dick kept referring to Wally Krummel, who was a former House Manager, saying “Wally and I did this and Wally and I did that…”  Finally Tim asked “Who the Heck is Wally Krummel?”  To which Dick responded.  “He’s the guy who did everything around here before I came.  Some day someone is going to ask; who the heck is Dick Booth?”

If you check out the photo wall on the way upstairs at the theatre next time you go to a show, you can answer that question.  That’s Dick Booth!