Roll of Knights

I am from a long line of family in service to others; mostly medical or military, of which I am happy to have continued in both areas of service. I am a U.S. Army, Gulf War Era Veteran and a Registered Nurse specializing in the Operating Room as a Circulator/Scrub/First Assistant in surgery.

I have had my share of difficult years and strive to set an example for others not to let their trials and tribulations in life define them, yet use the experiences to overcome, inspire, and become who you truly are. Experiences shape us, but do not define us. I believe in the quote by Benjamin Frankin, "What I am to be, I am now becoming." Always strive for learning, growth, and develop personally and professionally into something and someone beautiful...and remember to pay it forward!

Reading, Heritage, Nursing

Being democratically elected to represent as a Councillor the residents, business, workers and visitors of North Kesteven District Council

Achieving the Honour of becoming a Freeman of the City of London.

Being recognised as a Liveryman for the Guild which has now become the 97th Worshipful London Livery

A member of The Royal Society of St George.

MBICSc Member of of the Institute of Cleaning Science

Politics, History, Aviation, the Union of the United Kingdom.

I nominated Lady Jan (Janice Marie Eby Shively) for membership in the Order of the Royal Oak because of her lifelong dedication and self-sacrifice for the benefit of others.

I first met Jan one Sunday morning. A friend of mine, Chuck, and his girlfriend, Karen, felt sorry for me because I did not have a girlfriend and they tried to include me in everything they did. As we walked into church, I told them to “Go ahead, I am right behind you.” I did not lie because I was right behind them, I just did not tell them for how long. And so, as soon as they started walking down the aisle, I started looking for a seat. When I saw several empty seats in the middle of a row, I darted in and watched them look all around for me; however, as the service was just beginning, they had to take a couple of available seats.

Ah, victory. I had been able to ditch them. And, as I relaxed from my sly and somewhat devious enterprise, I suddenly realized, three or four seats away, sat a very attractive young lady. As the first hymn was announced, she noticed I did not have a hymnal near me, and she slid over so she could share hers. Immediately I thought “When we finish singing, if she does not move away, I certainly see no reason why I should.” Well, she didn’t and neither did I. After the service I introduced myself and after some small talk, I asked her to spend the afternoon with me and the two friends I had ditched; after all, I was sure they would forgive me once they met this very attractive and thoughtful young Lady, with whom I had managed to acquire a date.

Well, we continued to date, and I learned she had been working 30 hours or more per week while attending high school (milking and feeding 50 cows and 150 hogs, as well as plowing, planting, and harvesting), in order to help her parents, save her grandparent’s farm after Jan’s grandfather developed senility. In addition, because of all the stress, Jan’s mother had developed grand mall seizures which severely limited what she could do to help prevent the loss of the farm.

When I met Jan, she had started college and was driving two and a half hours to and from Ball State University each weekend so she could try to continue helping her parents as she had in High School. I took the opportunity to drive down to Ball State University each Friday evening and take her home to help her parents over the weekend. I would also try to help over the weekend, which I am afraid was probably mostly so I could spend time with her. Then each Sunday evening, I drove her back to Ball State University. This lasted for one semester, by which time she concluded she was unable to effectively perform either responsibility and so she chose to forgo her dream to become a veterinarian, and instead, dropped out of college so she could help her parents full time.

Eventually we married, in 1971, and while I saw her constant kindness directed toward others each and every day, it was not until I suffered a severe stroke that I personally experienced the fullness of her faithfulness and dedication. For several years I was bed ridden and completely disabled. Jan worked fulltime while caring for me and raising our three teenage sons. As I began to recover from the stroke, Jan spent her evenings reading my lessons and typing my papers so I could complete the Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degrees.

Sometime after my recovery from the stroke, my mother’s spine gave out leaving her disabled, and then, once again Jan provided the needed care for several years, until my mother’s passing, after which Jan’s mother became disabled due to aging and Jan provided the needed care until her mother’s passing several years later.

Jan has truly demonstrated our LORD’s teaching in Matthew 22: 36-40: 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

Jan loves spending time with family, nature, bird watching, Holland America cruises (particularly to Alaska)

I started a small dot com in 1995 and my company now has a GSA Federal Contract selling Photo digital technologies to the US Military, DOD, Pentagon, and the US Secret Service as well as US Treasury Dept., IRS, BOP, USDA, NOAA, USGS, US Army Corp of Engineers, NASA, JPL, NIH and CDC.
I have six art commissions and also have created about 100 sunflower oil paintings and I am selling them individually.
I just purchased my family farmhouse with 8 acres and I am working on renovations there and also mowing and cleaning up the property.

Fine Art, Painting, Reading.

I am an active duty, Non-Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Army. I generously donate to organizations that help my fellow brothers and sisters in arms.

Family is everything to me. Success and prosperity should be bestowed upon the next generation as tools to better the world as they see fit.

Family Motto: Immortality through Magnanimity

Cycling, finance, skiing, family progression

Ripples in time.

When I was a young teenager, I had the occasion to rescue a younger lad from an incoming sea tide. At Cleethorpes I think it was, I've often wondered
what became of him, what family he went on to have, what job etc.

When I was a young man, say around 25yrs old, I came across two young ladies in distress and stranded on the roadside with a broken down car.
It was on the busy "Heads of the Valleys" road in South Wales and all other cars and drivers just sailed on past them, seemingly not giving
them a thought. I pulled over to see what the problem was and if I could help. Turns out their fan belt had broken which was a quick and easy
enough fix. In those days, c1980, I carried such as a spare fan belt in my boot which I quickly fixed for them and got them back on their way home
to their parents. I sometimes wonder if my random act of kindness has caused them to 'pay it forward' in their lives at all.

What I want to say is, "We never know... We just never know how we may affect the lives of others, by a kind or encouraging word here, or a
smile there".

While flying home from abroad and settled into my window seat before take-off a young lady asked me if she could have the window seat. I of course said, "yes" and then took up the aisle seat. As we were thundering down the runway I realised that she was crying, petrified! So I just leaned over and put my hand on hers until we were safely in the air. Not a word passed between us until we came in to land and I kept an eye on her. Again, clearly petrified, so when we landed I simply smiled at here and said, "well done" (not sure she spoke English. This happened on a flight in the Ukraine).

Simple acts of everyday kindness, which, if each of us did at least one every day, oh, what a different place this world might be.

To paraphrase General Maximus Decimus Meridius of Gladiator fame: "What we do and say now echoes throughout eternity".
Ripples In Time...

History.
Ancestry.
Photography.
Travel.

I have served in the United States Army for ten years. Within those ten years I have travelled to over 28 countries and got to experience many cultures. There was one thing that was consistent in all the places that I have been and that was happiness and family. It didn’t matter where you came from, what you grew up with, how much money you have then or now. Family no matter how big or small is all we have in life. Friends come and go, acquaintances come and go but family is forever. Family is what makes us happy.

I especially learned this during the COVID-19 pandemic when we were home constantly with our loved ones. We grew closer than we ever were before because we didn’t have the distractions of the outside activities interrupting all the time. We started to learn more about each other than what we would have known. Before the pandemic we were hardly home, always at work, going to after school programs and activities and during the weekend we were getting ready for the next week. Where was the fun? No where. Slowing down and living the simple life made things a lot nicer and happier. As an American we were living to work not working to live. That is not life. Live your best life! Don’t work yourself to death because your job is not worth it. If something happened to you and you lost your job that job is easily refillable by another, your life isn’t.

Slow down, live life, be happy.

I enjoy reading, cooking and interior designing.

My favoured quote is from, one of the many published poems, that I wrote about Wales. the poem is called breathless wonder. "The sky burns red with the dragons flight".

Author, poet, novelist, science, history, anything of interest, world traveller.

The greatest compliment I ever heard was given to my father, by the clergyman officiating at his funeral: "He was a humble man." And indeed, he never used titles granted by countries that had opted to become republics; he earned widespread respect in Canada by campaigning for improved living standards for the working poor; and still more respect for promoting Canada's World War II effort to the initially unenthusiastic trade unions. When he passed away, his coffin was carried by Members of the Canadian Senate. My father's example is my own aim, for I can do no better.

I've had the good fortune of an education and political position allowing me to promote economic development, and take aim against victimization of the weak. Plus, it's a long-standing pleasure to assist in the betterment of the performing arts. Of course, we all have to re-invest ourselves on occasion, so history and a sense of duty have brought me to my ancestral home, where I participate with some success in the defence of basic freedoms.

Missing in action since March, 2022, Markian led his troops in defence of a main road leading into the besieged town of Popasna. When attacked by a force greatly superior in men and equipment, he demonstrated chivalry and valour, by sacrificing his own well-being to cover the successful tactical withdrawal of his troops. Lest we forget.

An outstanding heroic volunteer in the 2014 Russo-Ukrainuan War, and a 2021 graduate from military academy. Dedicated to the principle of freedom, with a strong loyalty instinct, and interests in professional development, history and the performing arts.

During World War II, my mother was engaged to the man I grew up thinking was my father; however, while he was away fighting the war, she encountered another man with whom she had a one-night liaison which included “Sexual Intercourse” and I was the product. When her fiancé returned home from the war, he agreed to marry her and adopt me; however, he was never able or willing to accept me as his son. This resulted in the intense and severe physical and emotional abuse I received from my “father”. One particular incident occurred at the hand of my father when I was quite young and left me unconscious and probably was the source of the severe Dyslexia that was the impetus for much humiliation in School. All the kids knew of my dysfunction and would giggle and snicker as I frantically tried to sound out the words when the teacher had us read aloud.

Over time I became very angry, developed a very low self-concept, and became extremely self-protective. Eventually fighting back, frequently with my fists, and as I got in a lot of fights, I was labelled a “Hood” or “Hoodlum.”

I received God’s gift of salvation, by placing my Faith in Jesus Christ; however, I still had a very low self-concept. Then in the summer after I had completed the 10th grade, we had a weeklong Missionary Conference at our church. On the last day of the conference, a Sunday night, the speaker talked about how the missionaries were returning to the “Field” for a four-year term after which some would be of an age when they would have to retire, while others would acquire diseases and become disabled, unable to return to missionary work, and he wondered, who would take their place?

All of us young people were sitting together in one section and the speaker turned to us and said, “Will you say, ‘yes’ to the Lord?” I was instantly angry! I had been informed and convinced by my father that I was loathsome, revolting, disgusting, stupid and in all ways defective, which had been confirmed by my schoolteachers, and schoolmates. Still, there was something inside of me that was urging me to respond affirmatively; and yet, at the same time, I angerly argued in my mind, “I am too dirty and inadequate, God would never ‘Call’ me to be a Missionary or a Pastor!” I did not want to be unacceptable; however, I knew I was, and while others could be “Called” by God, He would never “Call” me.

Then the Speaker said “God may not call you to be a Missionary or a Pastor! I have no idea what the Lord may want of you, and He may not be “Calling” on you at all right now, but what I am asking is, “Will you tell the Lord that the answer is ‘Yes’ if He ever does Call on you?” This made me even angrier, knowing this did not pertain to me, and yet, the answer had to be “Yes.”

Finally, I went forward, ready to explode with anger, ready to yell out to the whole church, “I am not being so presumptuous as to say Yes, I will be a Missionary or a Pastor, I know as well as all of you, that God will never Call me, but I must say ‘Yes’ to the Lord!”

Shortly after that service I realized the first application of “Yes Lord!” would be to accept my disability and the accompanying humiliation. It took a while to completely resolve everything, but eventually I learned the importance of John 3:30 “He must increase, and I must decrease,” and Romans 12:10 “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” I had to be more concerned about others than I was about myself.

This was one of the most important moments in my life; when I said “Yes” to the Lord before He ever “Called” (when I gave the LORD a ”Blank Check” and told Him to fill in the amount if He ever wanted to).

The Lord seems to have a sense of irony, in that, after my ignominious childhood, He has allowed me to marry a wonderful “Lady” who read my lessons and corrected my spelling so I could earn the “Doctor of Psychology and the Doctor of Philosophy (majoring in Theology) degrees.

For the past thirty years I have worked as a Christian Clinical Psychotherapist, Executive/Personal Life Coach, and both a Prison and Police Chaplain helping others who have been damaged as had I.

Richard loves History, Nature, Holland America Cruises, and spending time with family.
An Ordained, Independent Baptist, Minister of the Gospel, as well as an International Board-Certified Executive/Personal Life Coach, Facilitative Mediator, Police, Fire and Emergency/Crisis/First Response Chaplain.
• Member of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress
• Member of the National Center for Crisis Management
• International Board-Certified Executive/Leadership Coach
• International Board-Certified Personal/Life Coach
• Certified Facilitative Mediator
• Board Certified Master Addictions Counselor (Retired)
• Member of the Coalition of African American Pastors
• Certified Police Chaplain - International Conference of Police Chaplains
• Certified Fire/Rescue/First Responder Chaplain - Federation of Fire Chaplains
• Ordained Minister – Independent Baptist Alliance
• Charter Member – International Christian Coaching Association
• Charter Member - American Association of Christian Counselors
• Member of The Oxford University Alumni Association of New York, USA
• Member of The Oxford University Society University of Oxford, England, U.K.

From a very young age, my grandmother showed me that everyone should be treated the same way.
that it was necessary to take up the cause for the weakest and the most defenceless.

I have four godchildren two girls, two boys in various countries, I pay their studies. I cover their needs.
I give multiple associations every month. and I save a lot of animals through local and national associations
or international. At home I have adopted about 40 cats, a dog, a few hedgehogs .... all were under threat of death.

I also have a family of 6 refugees who live in one of my apartments.

I am also from the Scottish highland titles reserve which reforests, saves local animals and preserves these beautiful lands.

In France via d'Artagnan I am co-owner, Co Châtelain of 5 castles, we try to save them, to revive them, to preserve them.

Reading, tv series, animals - Although I cannot speak English Google translate is a very useful tool.

To be added

I am a representative of the Kingdom of Bunyoro-Kitara.

To be advised