Richard Alan Bayha

Richard Alan Bayha was born on March 28th, 1943 in Perkasie, Pennsylvania to Carl and Ethel "Pat" Bayha. The youngest son, Rick was surrounded by a loving family with aunts, uncles and cousins in his daily life.

A unique student, Rick survived his hammer throwing in the rafter drama club at North Penn High in Lansdale, PA and successfully graduated in 1961. After an illustrious year of pretzel delivery and eating Uncle Ed's creative food creations, Rick decided it was time to head to college and he got his first experience with the home of his heart. He headed to the Midwest to Ottawa, KS to attend Ottawa University where he majored in Communications.

After graduation he headed East for a quick two-years at Temple University, completing a Master's Degree in Radio and Television production, before heading back west to teach at Kearney State Teacher's College, in Kearney, NE.

Kearney turned out to be wonderful time in Rick's life, as that is where he met his wife of 45 years, Sandra Cummings. Love at first sight it wasn't, but eventually a spark was lit and the couple became a couple. After a super romantic proposal including the words, "look in the glove compartment," the couple was married on April 3rd, 1971 in Grainton, NE.

Rick and Sandy's life was a tour of the upper Midwest and over the next twenty years they would move to Maryville, MO; Junction City, KS; Manhattan, KS; back to Maryville, MO; Topeka, KS; Vermillion, SD; and Baldwin City KS. During that time, they managed to have three kids, a daughter, Carla, and two sons, Richard and Philip. They survived tornadoes, in-laws living with them, a teenage daughter, Anniversaries where he gave Birthday cards, good jobs, not-so-good jobs, Birthdays where he gave Anniversary cards, a car with a tire that rolled off while driving, a son who turned blue, a son who put a peanut up his nose, and many, many adventures and hilarious moments that made a strong and vibrant family.

Rick leaves behind his wife and three children, a son-in-law and two daughters-in-law, seven grandchildren, eight fully planned untaken vacations, two tons of train magazines, and more friends and family than we could count. He will be most missed by his family, but Discovery and Travel Channel will also miss him as his loss will put a big dent in their viewership. The leukemia might be what eventually forced him to move on, but he lived everyday with no worries, enjoying every minute and never understanding why everyone didn't live the same way.

The visitation will be from 6-8 PM on December 16th at Grace United Methodist Church at 11485 S. Ridgeview Rd, Olathe, KS with a Celebration of Life following on December 17th at 10 AM, also at Grace. In lieu of flowers, the family is asking for donations in the name of Richard Alan Bayha with the Ronald McDonald House so that other families helping someone fight this horrible disease don't need to worry about where they will sleep at night.