The Butterfly & The Bulldozer

When Rick Richards was 8 years old, his mother sold him. She dumped his suitcase in a waiting station wagon and sent him off to live with a couple he had never met. They used him as little more than a servant, prompting him to hop a freight train and set out on his own within a year. So begins the incredible odyssey of a child who quickly learned to live by his wits in navigating 1950’s America. He had been born with a love for horses, and was transported to teenage heaven by having his picture taken with Gene Autry on one job and actually riding Roy Rogers’ horse Little Trigger on another. Years later he made his way to Hollywood where he worked as a stunt man, model and actor. His first marriage to a young woman he met while working in a Wild West show resulted in two beautiful children he loved and deeply admired. But Richards battled demons most of his life, and his search for purpose led him to Nichiren Buddhism and to his second wife Eva. They practiced their faith together until that day in December 2010 when he passed away. His commitment to his spiritual life enabled him to overcome his mother’s rejection. His memoir, a letter to his grandchildren who were born after his death, is painful and triumphant, staggeringly raw yet as gentle as a butterfly resting on a lotus blossom.