Obituary of Richard Chester Bassett

Richard Chester Bassett was born on July 29, 1946 in his Grandmother Ivea Fellers' log home in Fellers Heights, B.C. He passed away peacefully on August, 28th approximately at 2:30 am in the hospital in Dawson Creek, B.C. Richard was known as Rick by his family and friends. He was also known for a big sense of humor, teasing family and friends and pulling a number of harmless pranks on some unsuspecting individual. Rick met Eileen Michel on the banks of the Kiskatinaw River when her family moved to the Peace. On November 5th, 1966 they were married in the Killkerin Hall and spent the winter at Houston B.C. in the logging business. The next spring they returned to Dawson Creek and Rick went to work for Gerry Beattie, operating a Cat in land clearing around the area and Eileen cooked for Gerry the 2 man camp on the jobsite. In the fall of 1967, they moved back to Houston for logging, and Rick and Charley Bassett found winter work in Crescent Spur, B.C., near McBride. They rode the train from Houston to Crescent Spur, coming home on the week-ends. Their daughter Ann Eileen, was born on December 18, 1967 and son Ben Richard the next year on February 16, 1969. Both children were born at the closest hospital in Burns Lake, B.C. In the spring of 1969 Rick and family moved back to Dawson Creek and built a modest house in the lower yard area on his Mom and Charley's place. In the spring of 1970 they bought a 8x33ft trailer and moved to McKenzie, B.C. where Rick ran a loader. In late July when Rick was up the Ingenika River on a forest fire, he developed a severe case of hives, so had to come out. He spent 2 weeks in the Dawson Creek Hospital on bed-rest, and in August he was sent to Edmonton, AB to have testing done. At that time, they determined he had kidney problems which they termed "an insulted kidney". In later years, they diagnosed it as the hereditary polycystic disease. In 1971 Rick bought his first Cat, a D7, 17A from R. Angus and his first job for it was in Tupper. In 1972 he got his Cat on at the yard of Northwest Wood Preserves in Dawson Creek. During this time Rick applied for a lease on land west of his mom's place and in 1972 they moved the modest house from his mom's yard onto their own land, pulling it on skids up the road with a skidder. The land was raw bush land, which after getting a specified number of acres under cultivation, they purchased it. In the fall of 1973 they got Hydro into the land, so they bought an Atco mobile home and moved it into place with heavy equipment as it had rained and the gumbo mud was thick. In 1976 they got telephones finally, the old "Party Line of 3" system! During these years, Charley, Ken and Rick had started a company they called Bassett Logging and logged for Northwest Wood Preserves in the Dawson Creek Area. Northwest Woods moved their headquarters to Chetwynd, and became Chetwynd Forest Industries. About 1978 Charley decided to retire, and Rick and Ken continued in the business in 1980 as Bassett Brothers Logging. This company later divided into two companies in the fall of 1988/89 and Rick's company became B&R Bassett Logging, (with son Ben) and became a LTD Company in 1991. In the later 70's the Highways Department hired Rick and his D7E, building the Heritage Highway for several years, on the One Island Lake portion. They lived in their camper during the summer, and camped on the East branch of the Kiskatinaw River. Eileen conned the kids into picking "Tons" of raspberries everyday and made dozens of jars of raspberry jam. Before long, Ann and Ben were sick of berry picking. By 1984, Rick's kidneys were not working very well, so he had surgery in Prince George to make a fistula for his future dialysis. But, he didn't require dialysis until 1987, when he had the first dialysis in the University Hospital of Alberta, in Edmonton. Rick and Eileen trained for home dialysis for two months there, and then the technical team installed the equipment in their home. Nurses and technicians traveled with Eileen and Rick to be there for his first run at home. Rick received his first kidney transplant in 1991 and after 1 1/2 years, it was giving him troubles. So in the spring of 1993, they went to Australia to visit with friends and family there before the kidney completely quit. By that fall, Rick had to go back on dialysis. This time dialysis wasn't working as well as before, and his health steadily declined. In the spring of 1995 Ken and Doreen decided they would get checked to see if they could be a kidney donor for Rick, and Doreen was considered an identical match. So on September 8th, Rick received the kidney from Doreen, which was truly a gift of life for him. By 2009, Rick had developed congestive heart failure, and in December he was flown to Edmonton to the Heart Institute in the U of A hospital, where they determined he had one main artery in the heart that was 95% blocked and needed a stent. The die used in doing angiograms or placing a stent is dangerous to a kidney, so they had to wait for a special team of doctors to perform the procedures. Because he also had atrial fibrillation, in 2010 the doctors gave him a defibrillator/pacemaker as a safeguard to prevent cardiac arrest. In 2011 during Easter time, Rick ended up in Prince George hospital with Pneumonia. During the early part of 2013, he seemed to have less and less energy. He blamed this on the pneumonia he'd had, thinking he didn't completely get over it. On June 26th, Rick's pacemaker shocked him, and Eileen drove him to Edmonton. He seemed okay after the shock, so they headed home, only getting as far as Beaverlodge when he received another shock. Eileen drove him back to Grande Prairie hospital, where he remained for a week. As the week wore on, he developed double pneumonia and the doctors there couldn't save him, so he was flown to Edmonton. The doctors and nurses there performed a miracle in keeping him alive. He gradually improved, his determination to return home carrying him on. He was flown back to Dawson Creek hospital on August 26th, to continue his physiotherapy until he could become mobile. In the early morning of the 28th, his heart couldn't keep him going, and he passed peacefully away. A memorial service was held on Wednesday, September 4, 2013 at 3:00 pm at the Cutbank Hall. Pauline Haycock officiated, interment will be at a later date. For friends so wishing, donations may be made in memory of Richard to the Kidney Foundation of Canada, Northern Alberta and the Territories 202-11227 Jasper Ave North West, Edmonton, Alberta T5K 0L5. Very Respectfully Reynars Funeral Home & Crematorium