NORWEGIAN ELKHOUND FORUM

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EULOGY

RYSZARD ANDRZEJ JAN SCHWEMIN or RICHARD BARGANSKI as he preferred to be known, was born on the 10th March 1991, at Southmead Hospital, Bristol.

He died suddenly and unexpectedly on the evening of 25th June 2013 at the age of only 22 years, 3 months and 15 days.

He was the younger of the two children born from the marriage of his mother BARBARA BARGANSKA and his father PETER (PIOTR) SCHWEMIN.

His parents, older sister KATARZYNA SCHWEMIN, younger siblings, KATERINA, JOANNA and JONATHAN SCHWEMIN, and a large extended family survive him.

He attended St Joseph’s and Dr Bell’s primary schools, Whitfield Fishponds secondary school, and the College Green campus of City of Bristol College.

He had a part time job, while at school and college, but sadly had not yet found a permanent job since leaving college. He had done some temporary work, and also voluntary work recently. He enjoyed Music and Dance and did some promotion work connected with this.

Richard was a thinker, and would get into very deep debates. From a very young age his opening line to anyone would be “You know what?”. He could debate black was white and loved to argue the opposing view with his victim.

He was a loving son and brother, though preferred to try, quite unsuccessfully to cover up his innately sensitive and kind-hearted character.

Cinema trips were an often-shared activity with his Mum. Sci-Fi particularly, sometimes action movies, animated features, and he saw far too many Romantic Comedies for any self respecting young man to admit to.

He had a very vivid imagination, more practical mundane matters of day-to-day life were not his greatest forte, and he attended to these necessary evils only when he absolutely had to.

Mind you he could cook when the mood took him, was interested in improving his Polish, so random phone calls for recipe checks, cooking techniques or meanings of words were common. He knew how to clean and tidy, but showed little inclination in demonstrating this ability in his living space.

As siblings do, he squabbled with his older sister Kasia, but they loved each other deeply, and stuck together through thick and thin. She tried in vain to civilise him, despite occasional frustrations with their differences, they both would defend the other with tooth and claw. He called her ‘Little sis’ despite being younger, gave unasked for life advice, and thought it appropriate to have ‘THE TALK’ with Tom, giving his, unrequired, blessing to their relationship.

When he was at fault he would try to make amends. This could take the form of spending his last few pounds on making everyone dinner, or once hand delivering flowers to Kasia’s work, leaving a vague note, and enjoying for hours the speculation as to the identity of the sender, before finally admitting it was him. He would, eventually apologise, hard as it was for him, but rarely admit to being wrong!

Family was all important to Richard, and forging relationships with his younger siblings was a part of this. He felt it important to try and build bridges between any family members, who had differences.

He was very close to his Mothers youngest brother PAWEL, who he viewed more as an elder brother, with there being only two years age difference. He benefited often from PAWEL’S good taste in clothing, and now finally bagged ‘that’ much coveted jacket.

Also his Grandfather STANISLAW BARGANSKI and his wife ANIA, and young Aunt ASIA, were important constants in his life. Their open house policy and Ania’s good cooking were an additional incentive for visiting.

He enjoyed being around his cousin KAYLEIGH, and TOMMY with their infant son Logan, with whom he lived for a time. He loved our large family gatherings at Grandad’s with his Uncles and their families. His Uncle Pete came to be somewhat of a father figure to him – fellow Trekie fan, he would have endless debates and skype conversations on everything from, travelling the world, meditation and advise on more earthly pursuits such as asking girls out on dates.

He was a fiercely loyal friend. He wouldn’t flinch from embarrasing himself if he felt it helped.

Being young, imaginative and fun loving he was quite prepared to be the butt of silly stunts, dares and jokes, especially for a financial consideration. For example shaving his head to a smooth finish, walking down the high street with his trousers round his ankles, or drinking a shot glass of extra strong chili sauce.

We always suspected he had Pyromaniac tendencies, as he loved Bonfires, and at the Barbeques at his grandfathers, he always wanted a bigger and bigger fire, earning the nickname “Fire Man”.

He had always wanted to travel, especially to far off exotic places. At one time while still at school he was determined to go to Japan and live there and learn the language. Most recently he had decided to try and save and travel to India.

Different cultures fascinated Richard, and as a humanitarian, he was very concerned about the fate of the environment and people of this world.

SMALL CHILDREN, ANIMALS, HIS FAMILY, AND EVEN SOME YOUNG LADIES, LOVED HIM, SO WHAT MORE CAN BE SAID.

A beautiful tribute, Barbara. Rest in peace, Richard. Whatever your vision of heaven was, I'm quite sure you are there, and that you have some elkies for company. God speed.