Jo Cramer says:

He was my love , my best friend, my confidant, my husband, he was my everything. He not only loved me but showed me often that he was, in love, with me. I am so very thankful for our time together in this life we traveled together hand in hand always. We battled darkness together and we celebrated the light. We found our path to the Lord and helped each other enrich our relationship with Him. I will miss so very much, your humor, your arms around me, your quiet way of calming me down and reassuring me that we will get through anything if we just pray, and yes the love songs that you have sang to me over the 45 1/2 years we were together. I am so very blessed to have shared this time as your wife and although the end of your life was so very hard you still would smile and tell me how glad you were that I was your wife. I love you my split apart and will miss you until we are together again in paradise.

Steve & Connie Stevenson says:

Thank you so much for sending us Rikk’s obituary. We will print and keep it. A beautiful testimony to a life cut short too soon. We will miss him greatly!

Willie Chevarillo says:

Hello Jo and Family:
My family and I extend our warmest condolences to you and your family and prayers of comfort, strength, understanding, and peace that only comes from God. We love you and we’ll be praying! Sending love and hugs.🤍🤗

Owen & “Willie” Chevarillo
(Weekend #34)

Michael j Fisher says:

Rikk is such a gentle soul away from us but at home with our Lord. He was soft spoken, showing God’s love to those he encountered. He fully relied on God in his time here while he and Jo worshipped God in praise as well as stewarding the gifts they’ve been given to bring glory to God while serving His people. I can only imagine Rikk’s joy seeing Him face to face.

Chuck Mount says:

I met Rikk through Tres Dias and loved his gentle personality. I always enjoyed his involvement in praise and worship at our weekends and he loved serving others. Rikk was a good and faithful servant!

Michael Moore says:

I will always remember Rikk’s commitment to practice for the weekend and him playing guitar with my boys! A servant leader! Thanks for your example to me!

Kaisha cramer says:

My name is Kaisha Saint James Cramer. My Dad is Rikk Cramer and he gave me this unique name.
One of the many things he blessed me with.
And like many blessings I had questions. So I asked my Dad “how did you decide to name me this? What does it mean?” And he proceeded to tell me he had no idea what Kaisha means.
He found in on the credits of an old star man movie and thought is was so pretty. So he decided to name me that.
I used to want A different story, one more complex with deep hidden meaning about my future or who I was. But this was not the case.
You see my Dad saw the beauty in the word and for him that was enough.
He didn’t need it to be complicated with many layers.

I grew up on Irwin Ave with my mom, dad and big brother Justin.
Circumstance kept my oldest brother separate during my youth.
Although I know the absence of Bishop left a hole in his heart we never felt that burden.
He kept it to himself and poured his all into our family.
He always made our family feel like enough.

He built, my dad was a builder.
He built our family, he built our home.
He built us a better house.
First I watched him built a fence, then a huge shed. After that they added the addition to the family room and closed the patio, extended the bathroom and eventually built a pool. He turned our humble home into the envy of the neighbors.
And once there was no more home improvements that could be done they sold the house.
My mom and dad went on to buy their dream home and began to build again.
These actions taught me to take pride in what I have. That we have enough and to care for what you are blessed with.

My Dad also taught me to trust.
I still vaguely remember him holding me up to stand on the palm of his hands at the young age of 3.
I felt 10 feet tall and so brave.
And I thought “how strong my dad is.”
When I was around 10 years old, I remember going on one of our many camping trips.
We went camping every summer, sometimes more than once.
I didn’t enjoy getting dirty so this was not always a fun adventure for me. But here we are camping again.
We all went hiking down the creek to some waterfalls.
They started small but soon we came to a long drop and I was afraid.
I wasn’t as brave at 10 as I was at 3.
But my Dad reassured me he wouldn’t let me go and I would be safe.
He then lowered me down what felt like 10 feet to our neighbor Bill who caught me down below.
There at the bottom I watched in AWE as my dad scaled down this massive cliff.
My Dad was the strongest man in the world to me.
He taught me to trust his word.
He was a man of integrity.
His word was enough.

I remember so many weekends falling asleep to the sound of my Dad playing guitar, then mornings waking up to Dr hook on the record player and the smell of breakfast cooking.
I would go into the kitchen and see my parents smiling and truly enjoying each others company.
That was enough for them.
It was simple and beautiful.
A real example of love.
I grew up watching my parents be in love.

My Dad helped me understand what is means to be a Christian.
You see I did not grow up going to church. My Dad would say “ If God is everywhere then we would be able to worship at home”. My Dad used to get so annoyed at my singy song demeanor when I would come by after church.
He wasn’t saved until I was an adult.
Until this one weekend up on a mountain top.
My Dad accepted Christ as his Lord and savior. He changed that weekend.
The light of our Lord was shining thru him. He taught me to hate the sin not the sinner. To trust in our Father.
Faith was enough.

My Dad was always the gentle ear I leaned on.
He would just sit with me and listen.
He would listen without prejudice.
He told me; This too shall pass.
He always reassured me that he loves me and he would always be here.
And he was.
Thru all the times.
Good, bad, broken and beautiful.
My Dad stood by my side.

Not only did my dad stand by my side BUT he stood in the gap’s for my 3 older children.
Sedrikk, Arissa and Arrington.
They say only The best Dad’s get promoted to Granddad.
THAT RINGS TRUE.

My Dad once posted these words;

I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.

I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.

I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.

I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.

I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.

I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.

I wish you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.

His words were gentle and kind.
His love was enough.