Rick Hurley- A Life Lived with a Positive Charge

Richard Thomas “Rick” Hurley, 58, was first to rise on March 26, 2020. He kissed his sleeping wife, Tina, then made his way into his comfy chair to await her for their morning walk. Instead, God beckoned “his favorite” back home; to serenely meet his maker as Abbey Rose, the perpetually happy French Bulldog, sat on his lap.

Rick’s super power was conversation: engaging in, diving deeper, and with all involved emerging better for having spent their time with him. The guy had perspective like diamonds have facets, clear-cut and focused.

Jack and MaryAnn Hurley, were first to meet this generous, genial soul on October 25, 1961, raising him with siblings Mike and John in Livonia, Michigan. Rick held especially dear his cousin Bill Robinson, a railroad engineer, and his wife Caroline. Rick’s passing gave them both profound anguish.

A graduate of Lawrence Technological University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Rick forged a lifelong career as Government Federal Engineer for the United States Navy, retiring from the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Port Hueneme Division in 2017.

From their teenage years, Almantina “Tina” Ruiz, was Rick’s most ardent love, “his girl” as he often said of his bride since 1985. God blessed the marriage with Richard Thomas, Junior, and Alyssa Kaitlin, who in turn imbued unending love, lessons and limits onto their children.

When Richard Junior was hired as a valued employee at the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA, Rick took every opportunity to humble brag his son, beaming with parental pleasure just because. Not just another fatherly sounding board, Rick was his son’s built-in “job counselor” helping him navigate offers that popped up while he was in college and trying to figure out which way to head.

When Alyssa needed an escort to the altar to meet Garrett Rojano in 2017, there was no prouder, happier, delighted man on planet earth than Rick. Watching them take their father daughter dance wet eyes at every watching table in the garden.

A lifelong devout Catholic with abiding faith in Jesus Christ, Rick not only endlessly asked, “What would Jesus do?” but repeatedly answered by emulating He who he embraced as his Savior.

“Dad told me that his dad told him to always make sure you weren’t doing the easiest thing, but the right thing,” recounted the sunshine of his life who did the right thing by eating most of the man’s pancakes every chance she got. “The right thing is that part, deep down in your heart, and soul, and what some people ignore.”

Rick was able to repeatedly tell his young daughter – no matter what she was wearing – that her armpits looked too big in such a mirthful way that it still made her feel beautiful. Try that . . .

“He had a way of filling up your soul making you feel proud of your accomplishments, that you were enough while simultaneously pushing you to be better,” said Rick’s zealous pancake eater who credits him with stirring up her passion of fixing, designing and managing projects as a profession.

“Rick was a joymaker,” observed colleague Jamie Protte who worked with him on the Standard and the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile programs, “He happily accepted the journey God had for him and focused his energies outwardly, grateful to interact with others. If you spent any time with him, you soon knew his family was his joy.”

What Dave Malmsten will always remember, as nearly all who worked with him, is Rick’s passion for the job as a highly dedicated engineer, manager and leader. Already working at Port Hueneme when Rick joined the Naval Surface Missile Systems Engineering Station (NSMSES) command 1985 that many still refer to as “Nemeses”, Malmsten saw Rick assigned to engineering work in the new advanced Vertical Launching System Division (VLS) that he later managed.

“Rick and I spent lots of time on the road supporting the “AEGIS” fleet,” recalled Malmsten. “This was new advanced “Ticonderoga” ship class and both of us spent almost his entire first year together in the shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, where we participated in the ship’s combat system integration testing during an AEGIS ship construction. It was the best place to learn about the new, advanced systems giving us both valuable experiences we would use later on.”

Moving to the Air Dominance Department, Rick became a A60 Division Manager in 2005 responsible for major Combat Systems for the AEGIS Combat System including SPY radar, Fire control, Computer and Display systems. This is when John O’Neill began to work directly with him for the next 13 years, until Rick retired from the United States government civil service in 2018.

“Rick came to the job with a lot of personality, experience, and goals,” recalled O’Neill. “He was opinionated about trying to improve the US Navy at the same time working towards a happy life. I can say that he achieved both.”Keeping the ships in a constant state of readiness required management and leadership expertise according to Malmsten.

“Rick did that by guiding his managers, engineers, technicians and logisticians,” said Malmsten. “He traveled extensively-- to the ship’s homeports discussing issues with commanding officers and crew. He met with senior leaders and sponsors in Washington DC to discuss these issues and share his vision on fleet support and how to best to ensure their Combat System readiness.”

Protte is still in awe of how Rick’s work ethic that included working with NATO SEASPARROW Project, securing funding for various Naval programs in Washington, D.C. and striving to make the best of every interaction.

“He understood what he needed, came in, sat down, and clearly telegraphed without a computer presentation project needs to the people who controlled the money,” she recalls vividly of the man she incontrovertibly deems mentor, “He always found the commonality with people without ever altering his beliefs to advance himself.”

O’Neill noted that when Rick led a sizeable work force of talented Engineers, Logistician and technicians in support of the US Navy’s Aegis Combat System that, for years, demonstrated leadership when he drew in multilevel people at shipyards and program office sponsors.

“His successes stories with the Vertical Launching System and the SPY-1 radar improvement program were numerous,” added O’Neill noting Rick then became Standard Missile Customer advocate.

“Rick spoke quite a lot of his life with Tina, yet I never saw him as happy as when his daughter got married,” revealed O’Neill. “He was immeasurably proud of his son Richard for landing a lead position at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena where Rick and I visited twice as Richard personally provided the facility tour. He loved every minute of it.”

There remains a great debate about which he treasured more: his snarling Ford Raptor pickup truck, or his swanky 1955 red and white Ford Thunderbird convertible. And most people only dream of being able to shine up a vehicle as well as Rick.

No automatic car washes for Hurley. No way. None of his family can wash a car without thinking about him, but wrapped in the lessons of: wet, soap, rinse, dry, came the importance of taking care of things and seeing value in every object you buy.

“He taught me quality over quantity” said Alyssa. “That the materials used to make things matter.”

A techno aficionado with a practical flair, Rick always seemed to acquire, and be proficient with all manner of electronics long before it became popular with the masses.

“My dad rarely called a service person to fix things around the house,” viewed his son Richard. “More than just a hands-on fixer; he was a seeker of challenge, a tweaker, just as likely to upgrade something unbroken as he was to make
a repair. It was that approach that made me seek out his thoughts on something instead of using the internet to find answers because he was always ‘at your service.”

Whether it was minor upgrade to the household HVAC system, or dismantling his son’s new computer tower to build in lasting usefulness, or adding improvements to his Raptor with such deft skill that it would fool a Ford mechanic into thinking it was stock, Rick just liked to make things better.

Alyssa saw this too because he first taught her how all the parts of a house work together and then gave her the gift of self-reliance by showing her how to fix things.

Proceeded in death by his mother MaryAnn, father Jack, and brother Mike. Rick Hurley’s Funeral Mass will be held at Santa Clara Catholic Church on July, 10th, 2020 10:00AM. Internment will be immediately following at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park in Camarillo, Ventura County, California.

Leave this recounting of Rick Hurley reading a text he sent to his daughter, something songwriter Rod Stewart imprinted on him many years earlier. It is intensely personal, a message he doubtless would wish upon all of us who knew him even though he never got the chance to tell us:

“May the good Lord be with you, down every road you roam. And may sunshine and happiness surround you when you are far from home. And may you grow to be proud, dignified and true. Do onto others as you would have done to you. Be courageous and be brave and in my
heart you’ll always stay.”

When you cry, cry for happy, smiling through the tears because you had him in your life.