Richard Alan Raucina, 69, adventurer, builder, woodworker, and winemaker, passed away on Aug. 18 in Modesto, Calif., after a long illness.
He was born on May 21, 1957, in Kenosha, Wis., the third son to Esther and Frank-Raucina, who ran a local dry cleaning establishment.
He graduated from St. Joseph High School and moved with his parents to California, where he began using his artistic talents in woodworking to create wooden drums and briefcases, eventually opening a very successful woodworking and cabinet shop in Midpines in the mountains just outside Yosemite National Park, a place where he felt truly at home and was able to bask in its history.
He built houses and roads, naming them to honor the pioneers of the Gold Rush days who thrived in that area, and eventually built his family a home reminiscent of a European storybook castle after traveling many places in Eastern Europe, deeply interested in his heritage and the family’s Czechoslovakian roots.
He fell in love with Jagoda Deka from Poland and, in April of 2004, they married, welcoming their only child, a son named Rysio, a year later.
Rick’s zest for life in his beloved mountains of California will be remembered by everyone who knew him and we ask everyone, wherever you are, to raise a glass in his memory, the most fitting gesture to honor him, one that he’d love.
Besides his wife and son, he is survived by his two brothers, Robert Raucina of Kenosha, Wis., and Thom Raucina of Palm Springs, Calif. Funeral services and burial will be held at Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Mariposa on September 12 at 10 a.m. All are welcome to come celebrate his life.
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