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April, 2006 |
In Memoriam: Richard TerraLife is but a twinkle, a snap of the fingers, a blink of the eye. This fact hits home when someone you know dies. When that someone is your age, passes way too early, and has been a friend since the age of four, it hits home a little harder.
Richard Terra, a longtime member of the Snake River Chapter of STC died about a month ago of a heart attack. He was 46. While Richard left us way too soon, he had already accomplished a great deal in his life.
I grew up with Richard in Ketchum, Idaho. Our mothers were best friends. We would play with our toys together at each other's houses. I was a first grader and Richard was a kindergartner when I took him to 1st grade class in May of 1965. The first graders were sponsoring the kindergartners to "show them the ropes."
Growing up, I remember Richard being incredibly smart in school. He loved to read, especially science fiction. This translated into a love of science and a love for finding out how things worked and how to make them better. But from what I remember, Richard loved science fiction, space, planets, and the stars.
This is reflected in many of Richard's professional memberships. He was a member of the Science Fiction Research Association (SFRA), and he published numerous book reviews, critical essays, and scholarly research in publications such as SFRA Review, the New York Review of Science Fiction and Science Fiction Studies. He was also a member of the Planetary Society and the National Space Society. He contributed book reviews and feature articles to Ad Astra, the bimonthly magazine of the NSS.
But Richard's love of science and his leadership in finding out the answers to life's most important questions went way further than that. He was a Senior Associate of both the Foresight Institute and the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, both based in Palo Alto, California. The Foresight Institute is a nonprofit foundation with the goal of helping people guide the development of emerging technologies to improve the human condition. Richard served as editor of their newsletter and wrote frequently on nanotechnology and information management systems that will enhance knowledge exchange and critical discussion, and help improve public and private policy decisions.
Richard was an Apple Macintosh enthusiast and was a member of the Association of Macintosh Trainers. He taught classes in Macintosh computing since 1995. He was also a member of the Boise Macintosh Computer Club (BMCCP) and was active in Boise-area Mac user groups since 1993, serving as newsletter editor, web master and an instructor of MUG-sponsored classes. Richard was a member Capital City Communicators, and of course, STC. Richard established his own firm, Terra Nova, in 1994. He offered communications, design, and technology services. He had clients all over the country. Richard also worked as a technical writer and communication specialist at Healthwise in Boise.
Richard was a member of the Treasure Valley Chapter of the Autism Society of America and served on the chapter's Outreach Committee. He provided pro bono writing, editing, and design services to the ASA chapter.
Richard an I lost touch after we graduated from high school in the late 1970s. But we reunited in just the past few years in Boise. I came to know Richard most recently as an incredibly generous man who would always go out of his way to help others. He thought much more deeply than most us. He pondered how to make life better through new technologies. He has taught his sons, 9 and 12, to challenge life's assumptions, and to ask questions. His sons both love to read, as did Richard.
I can't help but think that Richard has made a huge difference in this world, that he has contributed mightily to our collective well-being through his research and challenge of life's assumptions. And there are many, many people whose lives he has directly touched. He'll be sorely missed, but his amazing contributions, his essays, his fiction, and his nonfiction, will endure as a legacy he left behind.
Kent Laverty
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