Rick Graham

Ricky Ray "Rick" Graham, age 66, passed away Sunday, December 5, 2021 at this home in Columbus.

The family will receive friends from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m. Friday, December 10, 2021 at McKown Funeral Home in Columbus. A private family burial will be held at the Silver Creek Cemetery.

Rick was born October 31, 1955 in Stromsburg, Nebraska to Rex and Lillie (Dittmer) Graham.  Rick was the 5th of 7 children by Rex and Lil.  He grew up with a busy and full household of love and laughter.  He graduated from Silver Creek High School in May of 1974.  While in high school, his love for Rock and Roll was showcased through his talents of drumming and singing in multiple rock bands throughout the central Nebraska area to include "Shannon", "Night Train", and "The Country Ramblers".

Rick's many years of employment began before high school, working on irrigation systems and pivot system.  After high school, he worked for Montgomery Ward and finished his career at Appleton Electric as a Machine Setup operator.  Rick was always mechanically inclined which translated into his passion and hobby of building custom classic muscle cars and trucks which included his impressive 71 Challenger, 67 Chevy Step-side pickup, and 71 1/2 Camaro.  Rick took great pride in his muscle cars and would regularly boast about this size of his engines (aka: "Dynamic Package"), the length of burnouts he could produce, the speeds he could reach, the speeding tickets he avoided, and the awards he won in classic car shows.

Through his 12 years of marriage to Jutta Paula Baumgart, he welcomed 3 daughters to his life, Shannon, Kristy, and Heidi.  From that point on, he was a devoted, very protective, and loving father.  His daughters centered his life.  Most notably, he enjoyed boating and water skiing with his daughters at Lake North, snow skiing, and sledding behind his pickup.  He also enjoyed teaching his daughters how to work on their own vehicles and make their own repairs, and how to be strong and independent.

Over the years, he embraced being a grandfather to 4 grandsons Nathan, Logan, Tristan, Evan and 4 granddaughters Samantha, Kati, Emma, and Nina.   He loved spending time with his grandchildren, building and fixing lawnmowers (which he learned from his own dad, Rex), teaching them how to drive, working on vehicles, bringing them to car shows and taking them for "smokey burnout" rides.

Rick will be lovingly embraced by his parents Rex and Lillie (Dittmer) Graham and his sister-in-law Judi Graham.

Rick will always be fondly remembered by his children, Shannon (James) Svasek, Kristy Graham (Ryan Nelson), and Heidi (Chris) Rayman.  8 Grandchildren, Nathan Rayman, Samantha Graham, Logan Zinnel, Tristan Graham, Evan Svasek, Kati Glodowski, Emma Rayman, and Nina Svasek.  3 brothers Gary (Sue) Graham, Ron (Sue) Graham, and Todd (Lisa) Graham.  3 sisters Judy (Edwin) Stankoski, Narka (John) Braun, and Sindy (Rob) Lindow.