Richard L. Chladek

Richard (Rich) Lee Chladek

Richard Lee Chladek was born on September 13, 1946 in Omaha, Nebraska to parents Godfrey and Rose Chladek.  He grew up the middle of three boys, Gary the oldest, and Jim the youngest.  Rich graduated from Creighton Prep in 1964 and soon after enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966 being stationed in Alaska.  In his words, he was “fighting the Cold War.”  He was discharged in 1969 and returned home to Omaha (with a not so brief stay with Gary and Mary Ann in Hawaii along the way).  Richard met the absolute love of his life, Beverly, and they married in 1972.  In 1977, they had their only son, Brian, and moved to Springfield, Nebraska.  Once settled, they were both very involved with helping form and grow St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.  

Rich eventually started his own electrical contracting company, Springfield Electric, and Brian joined him in 2000. Rich and Beverly both worked hard, and were active in the community, yet never missed a baseball, basketball, or soccer game Brian played.  This continued when Brian became a baseball coach for Skutt Catholic High School. They both loved going to his games regularly and especially enjoyed forming and growing relationships with the parents.  In 2006, Rich and Beverly became members of St. Patrick’s Church when Brian moved to Gretna.  In October of 2008, they welcomed their only granddaughter, Grace, into the world. Rich’s favorite time was watching Grace make cookies with Beverly or pretty much anything else his two favorite people did together.  After Rich and Beverly both had major health issues, their faith grew exponentially.  Rich said, “the doctors fixed my heart, but the Lord healed my heart.”  When Beverly was nearing the end of her life, Rich was by her side taking care of her until the end.  He knew he would see her again, and he missed her every day for the rest of his life.

Rich had the amazing gift of being able to make you laugh and roll your eyes/shake your head at the same time.  But what was more amazing was his example of love, faith, hard work, loyalty, compassion, selflessness, and concern for others.  Those things are what made him a great husband, father, grandfather, and friend. And he continued to grow in faith, and to be even more active in the St. Patrick’s community where he loved and appreciated all the relationships he had.  Rich passed away at his home on November 27, 2022.