Obituary for Richard Van Nice “A room without books is like a body without a soul” ~ Cicero Most everybody in town knew Richard. He was the “bookman” and he liked to refer to himself as a “bookie”, but in truth he had the more regal title of “bibliophile”. From the 1970s, when he managed Hatch’s Bookstore in the Capital Hill Mall until 2017, Richard lived a life doing what he loved.
Selling, trading and talking about books. Born in Minneapolis in 1948 to a South Dakota boy (Clem) and a Missoula girl (Margery), he was excited when Clem’s job with the Federal Reserve Bank moved the family back to Montana. He attended Hawthorne Grade School, C.R. Anderson Middle School, Helena High (1966) and graduated from Eastern Montana College with a degree in English.
During the Vietnam War, Richard enlisted in the Air Force and served his country as an air traffic controller at a radar station in Thailand. Richard was a kind and gentle soul. He loved to interact with his customers, revealing his unique (perhaps bizarre) sense of humor and some of the worst puns ever attempted.
He especially liked to visit with young readers, sharing his love of books and setting them up for a lifetime of reading. Our family has selected a Homer Collins painting to represent Richard for this obituary. When Richard bought Hatch’s Bookstore and rebranded it as “Reader’s Roost”, Homer painted a logo for the store.
Later, when the bookstore moved to the little house on Lyndale Avenue, the painting always sat behind his desk at the bookstore counter. Nothing is worse than having your young student announce on a Sunday evening that they have a paper due on Monday morning on the subject of Tibet or Kangaroos or Asteroids. Of course, the public library would already be closed for the night.
This happened before the Internet was an information rdzt/, but Richard would always come to the rescue. Family and friends would show up at the bookstore and Richard would hand them a stack of books on whatever subject needed to be researched. Richard is survived by his three siblings, Dave (Thea), Peter (Michelle) and Jill (Jeff) and their families.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial donations in Richard’s name to “Kid’s Chance of Montana”, a scholarship program for Montana students who have parents that have suffered on the job injuries. Private family services will be held at a later date. To offer a condolence or to share a story about Richard please visit www.
helenafunerals.com. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Richard Van Nice please visit our Sympathy Store.
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