Tributes
Leave a tributeYour enthusiasm & “he he” laughter ALWAYS made things extra special!!
Will always miss and love you Richie (my brother in my heart)....❤️
and we know we will meet again someday. We remember the laughter and
good times shared and we are only grateful that we had those times with
you! You have an amazing legacy - your beautiful Family!
Peace and Blessings,
Mari & Bob Musante
Happy birthday to you! I don't think you are getting any older in Heaven.
You are ever missed and often thought of and I know you can look down and
see what a beautiful family you have.
Until we meet agin, you are in our hearts...
Much Love,
Mari and Bob
Unseen, unheard, but always near, so LOVED, so MISSED, so VERY DEAR!
Rich is often thought of and thankfully we have so many wonderful memories. We feel grateful we knew him and his wife , Merrilee and
his amazing, beautiful, family!
With much love,
Mari and Bob
Dear Rich,
We MISS you so much! But we are sure you are at Peace and
are keeping your eye on all of your dear friends down here who are
anxious to see you again. Are there Pedro games in Heaven?
You are forever in our hearts! Until we meet again,
Much LOVE,
Mari, Bob, Brian, Andrea, Gianna, Brian, Declan & Ainsley
Love, Leslie McCutcheon Blomquist
I thank God that he Mr. Claverie/ Rich was a part of my life and I carried that baton with dignity.
Gerry Geraghty
Durango Colorado
National Director and Founder of River Run for Orphans
Dave Cortese
that never let go. He is a legend in the Evergreen School District. My husband and I appreciate his investment in our sons' lives. We are all greatly saddened by his passing. We send our
sympathies to his family. May God comfort you at this time.
Cisco and Julie Cabrera and family
One always knew when Track season started cause Claverie"s kids would be heading out for the Track with shovels, rakes, brooms..and some smiling with new spiked running shoes. In 2-3 days the Track would look immaculately groomed and was soon to be the home of endless Track League and County Championships. The same happened in the gym before Basketball season..lots of vacuuming, cleaning backboards, and installing new nets. The Basketball Championships always followed. Claverie could rattle off endless stats from the many years of athletes accomplishments and Championships
they won. Legacy was important to him. We used to tease he was a "Legend in his Own Mind"!
Rich was quite a character loved and admired by many for different reasons. Everyone who knew Rich has their special "Claverie
moment " and favorite Claverie story. I'm sure these will all be lovingly recounted and shared with each other at Rich's Memorial in the Rich Claverie Gym Monday. I look forward to seeing everyone and hearing them all. My heart felt condolences to Merilee and the whole family for
your loss. Thanks for arranging the opportunity to come together at LeyVa to share in his "Celebration of Life". He would have absolutely loved it! Lynne Gates
You are all in my thoughts; my heart aches for your loss.
Again, I send you both and your family my deepest condolences. I lost my own Dad in 1994...things do get easier with time but deep down inside it does still hurt. I cherish my memories and love seeing pictures of my Dad. I hope in time you find comfort in your memories of your Dad. In 1976 I graduated from Quimby Oak, LeyVa's rival Jr. High school and many of my friends went to LeyVa and had your Dad as a teacher and or coach and over the years they all talked highly of him and with much respect...I am sure the Memorial service will be packed with so many people who's own lives were impacted by your Dad in such a good way. Hugs and prayers to you both and your Mom.
Sincerely,
Susan McCoy Fong
skiing with Rich "coaching" us all. Besides eating & playing Pedro our
more recent shared pleasure was travel. We loved Italy and France,
& this year we ventured to Russia...what a bittersweet trip this was.
And so a good man has left us, but he leaves us better for having
known him. Our hearts ache for Merrilee & the entire Claverie Family.
But beyond what we can see - the journey continues...Love You,
Rich and we will meet again.
Mari and Bob Musante
We had the pleasure of being a neighbor in the Meadowlands for many years and most recently the Villages. We will always treasure our interaction with Rich in promoting the success of Leyva School sports programs in the Evergreen Times. We will always treasure our friendship with Rich during the past 30+ years! Sandy & Bill
The reality of our Rich's passing is most difficult in the LeyVa Family.
Respectfully,
Evelyn Ortiz
Arlene Sherman DeMoss
I had the pleasure of being your neighbor in Evergreen for many years, and have many fond memories of Rich. I would enjoy my talks with Rich. Rich was a very giving person and always willing to help. I will treasure my memories of those days with Rich.
Ray
Leave a Tribute
How very sad and shocked ot learn of the passing of Rich. Our hearts go out to you Merilee and the family.
I remember when Rick started subbing at Quimby Oak in 1970. He did such a great job, that I recommended that he be hired when a position opened up. He & I worked together and for the next 5 years we put together one of the strongest athletic programs in the county.
When LeyVa opened in 1975, Rich left Quimby Oak to become their Athletic Director. He built on what he had learned and developed a strong program there.
When Chaboya opened in 1991, staff personel were moved around among the Middle Schools. At that time Rich asked me to coach with him at LeyVa. It was great to be able to work again with him for my final four years of my teaching career.
We have a lot of wonderful memories of get togethers with you and the family over the years. He was so proud f his children. Todd and Kendra. As the grandchildren were born they brought much joy to him and he was so proud of all of you. We know there will be a great void in your lives and only time can soothe the pain. Our deepest sympathy to the family. You are in our prayers.
John and Fay
Army Reserves
My Mentor
Rich Claverie was a great friend and a terrific mentor. He taught me everything I know about coaching. We had many great years coaching basketball together from the Big Game (LeyVa vs. Quimby) at Silver Creek to the Mayor’s Cup. I would just like to share a few experiences with Rich that help shape my career in Education and Coaching.
For a few years I taught P.E. with Rich, one day we were going to have the boy’s run the mile. On the way out to the track Rich called out to a young man that was very over weight and asked, “hey, Tommy, would you help me out and fill the long jump pit with sand. I have the wheel barrow out and there’s a shovel by the shed.” Each time we were running the mile, Rich had some job for Tommy to do as a “favor to Rich.” Obviously, Rich avoided Tommy being embarrassed and he taught me how important kindness is in dealing with the vulnerable. A few years later, Tommy went on and started on the Silver Creek football team.
Another lesson I learned from Rich was we had a student aide that we had taught and coached for several years. Jose’s responsibility was to fill the soda machine. One afternoon we walked into the locker room and saw Jose pass a soda to another student without paying for it. Rich called Jose into the office and reamed him about how we had trusted him with the keys to the machine that had the money as well as the sodas in it. Jose’s eyes welled up and admitted his mistake. When Jose left the office Rich turned to me and said, “Do you know what we do next?” I wasn’t sure and Rich said, “We tore him down and now we need to build him back up, first thing we do tomorrow is give him the keys and have him fill the machines.” At the beginning of class the following day, Rich called Jose over so everyone could hear and said, “here’s the key go fill the machine, please.” Jose’s face went from sullen to relief that he still had Coach Claverie's confidence. The message was clear that everyone screws up, now that’s over move on and do better.
The first year I coached with Rich he told me lesson number one is that after a game, “if we loose never talk to the team about the game. Nothing constructive comes out of it. The team already feels bad and they know what mistakes they made. Too many Coaches use that time to vent their frustration with them. Only say, "we’ll work on things next practice." The next practice ask them what we need to do better on and work on it.” Lesson number two was set attainable goals for the team, first we want to win the Section, then if we don’t make that then our goal is to win the league, if we can’t do that we need to win the big game against our rival. Some years when we were not very strong, our main goal, which Rich would hype to the team, was have a winning record. Every year our team achieved “our number one goal, whatever that was.
Everyone knows that Rich loved to win and was a fierce competitor. One year Rich said he wasn’t going to coach for that year. I knew why, because Todd was playing for our rival and he didn’t want to coach against his son again. The previous year when asked by a student who he wanted to win the “Big Game?” Rich responded with “I want LeyVa to win 49-48 and my son to score all 48 Quimby points.” We happened to have a dynamite team and won it all. I know Rich never regretted not coaching that year, his family always came first. I followed every step of Kindra’s acro-gymnastics and activities to every one of Todd’s sports accomplishments through Rich. Rich, myself and my son Chris, who was 11 at the time, went to one of Todd’s football games. Rich made sure Todd came over and said hi to Chris. All decked out in his uniform Chris was in awe. By the way Chris followed Todd to Mitty several years later.
Without a doubt Merilee was the world to Rich. He was so proud of all the love and support she provided. Merilee was a regular at the games Rich coached. I also had the privilege to get to know them both. You have all my love. I just wanted to jot down a few thoughts about what Rich meant to me. If you find any grammatical errors don’t blame me. Whenever I had something important to write, Rich would proof it for me. Being an English Major, many times his red ink was more than I had originally written.
Thanks Rich, for twenty great years. Your students, athletes and this coach will never forget you.
Marty McKeown
(by the way I changed the names of the students)