Rick Spill

The world has lost a genius. The world should weep. On October 13, 2014, Richard Stephen Spill, born January 2, 1948 to Louis and Ruth Greenstein Spill, Biddeford, Maine, left this world. For the last 10 years he fought a valiant fight against a brain tumor and more severe complications than many could have endured. But the 7th trauma was too much to overcome. The knowledge that Rick Spill was a genius came early. After graduating close to the top at Hebron Academy in 1966, Rick obtained an AB in Sociology/Latin at Bowdoin College in 1970 (during which time he created Bowdoin’s weight lifting sports program), then an MA in Criminal Justice at State University of New York in 1972, then an MSEd in Education at the University of Maine in 1976, then Post Graduate in Employment and Training at Harvard University in 1976, and lastly an MA in Marine Affairs at the University of Miami in 1993. Rick’s employment history was varied and stellar. After college and for the next 3 years he held several jobs in criminal justice, culminating in 1973 as Special Assistant to the Superintendent, Massachusetts Correctional Institution, Walpole, after a bloody riot. He devised short term projects to restore and maintain order, and then long term programs to alleviate inmate anger and frustration. Rick then began a long career in the employment and training field, working for several locals in Maine. At the first, he started with a staff of 3 or 4 and 20 some odd clients – within a year there were 20 some odd staff and several hundred clients. At another, and when meeting planned enrollment and outcome figures was the most important thing to the US Department of Labor (DOL), all of Rick’s programs met every target every quarter. With almost 600 locals across the country, and roughly 30 different statistical goals to meet for each program 4 times per year, not one other local in the nation came anywhere remotely close to Rick’s amazing feat. This is what brought him to the attention of DOL’s Office of Youth Programs, where he was offered a job in 1978. Rick was given carte blanche to create an exemplary youth program that could be replicated across the country. He took best practices from business and industry, vocational training, K – 12, college and advanced degree education. He revised and adapted precepts from these disciplines, and created new pieces where there were gaps, to design the very first competency based youth program that contained all components necessary to assure program quality. Meaning, in essence, that in this program no one was a success unless s/he demonstrated the ability to perform clearly specified tasks to numerical levels required by business, by means of testing protocols and assessments that were directly related to the skills being tested, and exited the program either for a job or additional schooling. This design was the cornerstone of Rick’s subsequent work in the employment and training field. Based on his experience with this program, Rick coauthored one of the first DOL monographs on competency based training, and wrote the majority of succeeding DOL documents intended to teach people how to design and operate such programs. (Over the course of his career, Rick authored or coauthored 50 publications, ranging from short articles to a “how to” competencies manual that ran close to 1,000 pages. He also wrote 19 presentation documents.) When Reagan was elected the Office of Youth Programs was dismantled. Rick then spent a number of years as a consultant in employment and training, traveling all over the country (over time, he worked in all 50 states), always with emphasis on designing and operating high quality competency based programs. Although only grudgingly acknowledged by some, all in the field, whether local or state or federal, recognized Rick as the competency expert. Competency based training requirements for youth were formalized in 1989, when federal regulations regarding their development and operation were finalized. These regulations were drafted by Rick. While some of the detail was deleted, there was only 1 change made to the content, and it was minor. It had been a scant 11 years since Rick was hired to design an exemplary youth program that could be replicated across the county. Now that program design was a requirement everyone had to meet. Anyone who has worked in this field knows that this kind of monumental change does not occur, unless the country is facing a serious problem like the recession that triggered the public service employment program, without significant political backing. Rick had none. All he had was the quality of his work, his effectiveness in teaching people to understand and appreciate it, and then the support of highly respected professionals at all 3 levels – local, state and federal. Of course there had been a great deal of interest in “competency based” training for some time; no such program change would have been possible without it. And it wasn’t a new concept – those in education had been offering such training for a number of years. But there were no clearly identified or widely accepted parameters anywhere; there were few standards that everyone followed. Rick’s program design became that definition. Just about anyone else would have negotiated some kind of financial deal with DOL; Rick never asked for a dime. The only money he ever made was for training people how to operate the system. Since then, these regulations have been the foundation for all competency based training programs funded by DOL’s ETA, whether for youth or adults. To the extent that today’s competency based training programs adhere to his definition, they have quality programs; for the most part, to the extent they have changed his definition, they do not. Some qualitative changes have certainly been made; almost everything can still be improved. However, the majority of changes that have been made were made by people who don’t understand the entirety of the definition clearly, and thus the changes have unintended negative consequences. Even so, because of his definition, thousands of people all over this country have received quality training and are in productive careers because of Rick, and none of them even know his name. In the early 1990’s Rick began looking for a new challenge, had a desire for a 3rd masters degree, and found himself growing more interested in and concerned for whales and dolphins; he decided to enter the marine mammal protection and environment preservation field. In May of 1993, at his first International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting as a representative for Animal Welfare Institute, Washington, DC, a scientific paper was presented purporting to prove whale populations were so healthy that the ban on whaling should be lifted. The Japanese and Norwegians appeared confident that this report would convince a sufficient number of IWC members to lift the ban, until they read Rick’s 230 page response, that is. Rick’s paper clearly identified and addressed in detail every flaw and fallacy contained in the scientific report. It is because of his rebuttal, because of his ability to clearly and concisely present his findings, and because of his considerable negotiation and persuasion skills (which admittedly he sometimes chose not to employ) that the IWC kept the whaling ban – and the entire world has good reason to be grateful. As the IWC conference came to a close, the scientist who had written the report Rick refuted asked him if he was a scientist, then a biologist, then a statistician, then a mathematician, and after Rick had said “No” to each query, asked what he was. Rick’s response was, “I’m just a technician.” For the next 4 years Rick worked tirelessly for whales and dolphins. He was intimately involved in the careful and successful return of 2 dolphins from an attraction in Florida back to the dolphin family they had been taken away from about 8 years earlier. He assisted states and the feds in writing regulations for the care and treatment of captive whales and dolphins, always pushing for more room for them, less interaction with people, eventual release, and the prohibition against importing any more. He traveled to Ireland and Scotland and Mexico and Japan for IWC meetings, and to Alaska and Norway in attempts to prevent whaling. His most astonishing accomplishment was bringing together the majority of whale and dolphin protection organizations, and creating an umbrella organization – Gadfly. For several years Gadfly harnessed and focused greater strength and effectiveness in dealing with whale and dolphin issues than members had been able to achieve while going it alone, or in loosely defined joint efforts. Anyone familiar with this field knows that some disagree so vehemently with how their peers in other organizations operate, that they appear to be, and sometimes actually are more at war with each other than with the opposition – it is truly amazing that Rick was able to get so many to set their differences aside and concentrate instead on working together for the greater good. Returning to the employment and training field, Rick was hired by the North Central Indiana Private Industry Council in Peru, Indiana. The programs he was responsible for had 12 numerical performance standards. When he arrived they were meeting 2 or 3 of the 12, and failing the other 9 or 10. The next year they met 2 or 3 of the standards, and exceeded the other 9 or 10. Rick’s last employer was the National Skills Standards Board, Washington, DC; they had not yet devised or implemented any programs. The board was being strongly urged by DOL to begin to produce – within 9 months of being hired, the board had 6 or 7 projects in various stages of implementation, all of them created by Rick. The board originally told Rick he would have to find another job, because right after he was hired he moved to California. But after witnessing Rick’s high level of productivity, he became the board’s West Coast Office. Rick lost his adored mother, Ruth, to ovarian cancer when he was only 12, a devastating loss that in some ways he never recovered from. His beloved father, Louie, passed away when Rick was in his early 30’s, and then his only sibling, Sandra Glatt, was lost to ovarian cancer in 2006. He was also preceded in death by his dear Aunt Naomi (and Uncle Hyman) Beigel, by the patriarch of the family, Uncle Si, the Honorable Simon Spill (and Aunt Eppie), and last but by no means least, by Ann and Cliff Clifford (the woman who became Rick’s mother when he lost his, and her husband), who opened their home and their arms and their hearts to a desperately hurting boy, who made him part of their family. He also lost their two daughters, who were like sisters to him, Rhoda Tessari and Roxanne Clifford. Rick is survived by his recently wed wife and partner of 28½ years, Nancy Humphrey. More than once he told her that she wasn’t his soul mate – she was the other half of his soul, that only with her by his side did he feel whole, complete. He is also survived by his brother-in-law, Ted Glatt and his nephews, Joshua and Gregory Glatt, and by his cousins, Linda (Dr. Benjamin) Cooley, Carole (Harvey) Cole, Stephen (Barbara) Beigel, Evelyn (Dan) Green, and by second and third cousins. Rick is also survived by a number of friends, friends who were more like brothers. It started with Arthur Lerman, whose parents brought him home to the other apartment in the building where Rick, all of 1 year old, was waiting to greet the newborn. Next was Chuck Clifford, who became disgusted with the way the bullies were continually attacking Rick, a thin, short, not very athletic 9 year old, and told them in no uncertain terms to stop. Although Chuck was already an athlete, he was only one against several, but the bullies backed down, and a life long bond was forged. In college Rick soon met John Benson, and one cold winter night picked up a hitch hiker, later Dr. Lee Rowe, and both have time and again come to Rick’s aid. Also while in college or through work he met Mike Denoncourt, Roy Bouchard, Bruce Merrell, Paul Paskoff, Paul Sutton, Greg Pickering, Warren Dorr, Steve Dunlap, Steve Sims and Joe Ore. These 14 have had no greater supporter, no bigger admirer than Rick. Rick made and cherished friends everywhere he went. He admired others strengths, supported and encouraged everyone to grow and hone their skills, and always gave credit where credit was due. He could be and often was impatient with and critical of peers or superiors when he felt they were not doing their job, but never with anyone who did their best, and certainly not with subordinates. Rick was never jealous of but always grateful for and eager to recognize the gifts of others. While in Norway fighting to eliminate whaling in that country, he met an opponent, a man who worked in the whaling industry. It soon became apparent that the two had much in common. Always they remained diametrically opposed regarding whaling, but they both relished “off hours” together, when no shop talk was allowed. Given the acrimony and animosity felt by those on both sides of this issue for each other, this friendship was miraculous. Rick was a loyal and constant friend – he refused a lucrative job at a time when he wasn’t even being paid survival wages because the job came with one prerequisite: he had to denounce a good friend. Rick was an even more constant lover and mate. After meeting Nancy at conferences starting in 1984, and speaking with her on the phone about work issues for some months, professional topics gave way to personal ones. By mid 1985 he was talking about her every chance he got; it wasn’t until early 1986 that Rick realized he was in love with her. He first asked Nancy to marry him on March 21, 1986, and never stopped, until she finally did. Rick taught her much of what she knows about programming, protected her as she hadn’t been since her father died, showered her with gifts when he could, always listened when she talked about something she liked and sooner or later it was there, teased her, laughed with her, loved her, loved her, loved her. During the last 10 years of Rick’s life the growth of a benign brain tumor and then major complications caused harrowing brushes with death – Rick once entered the hospital with his kidneys shutting down; another time he was sinking into a coma by the time Nancy got him to the hospital. During an operation he was given the most vicious staph infection known; by the time it was discovered it had completely taken over his back right skull bone, and was poised to next infect his brain. Rick fought courageously to recover from 6 brain operations in 7 years, but even in this he had to be different. Two of those operations were to remove a growth that was not the tumor: Papillary Endothelial Hyperplasia (Rick was the 21st person in the world known to have this disease in the brain). And finally, a little over 2 years after his last operation, Rick achieved a new plateau. His brain had finally started to heal. He began to take an interest in life, to talk again about the possibility of getting a doctorate, to plan for him and Nancy to go places and do things, and for them to get married. This was truly a stepping stone on the way to recovery; he remained in this higher state of awareness every day for 3 weeks – it was here to stay! And then the August 24, 2014 6.0 Napa earthquake took probably its last victim. Their home has a brick 2-step front porch; each step has a ¼” overhang. Both of them had tripped on one or the other of those steps, but because of the shortness of the overhang they always fell forward, causing little or no damage. Nancy noticed that the earthquake had caused a crack at the base of the top step, just a little crack, no more than ¼” wide. Yet that little crack forced the overhang of the bottom step to 1 full inch, and not all along the step either, just the area closest to the wall of the house, where one is most likely to step when entering the home. And of course the change to the overhang wasn’t visible. On September 6 they’d been out, and Nancy went in ahead of Rick to turn on lights. For a moment she thought about going back out and helping him get up the steps, but then dismissed it because Rick was now walking like a man his own age, without the need for a walker or cane. Then he caught his toe on the elongated overhang and fell backward onto concrete, with nothing to break his fall. If this had been the first such injury, or even the 2nd or 3rd, in all likelihood he would have made a full recovery. But being the 7th trauma proved too much, and 37 days later, Rick simply went to sleep. But before he did, Rick did one more thing that few could accomplish. For the past several years, every time Rick mentioned getting married Nancy would tell him that she didn’t want to until he was able to remember it. The new plateau Rick achieved included short term memory gains; they began to discuss possible wedding dates. When the accident put poof to that, she and Rick decided to get married in the hospital. Since Rick could not present himself at the Clerk’s Office to obtain a marriage license, a notarized statement was required, and lucidity would be judged. Up until then, Rick had been out of consciousness more than he was in it, but for 4 days he stayed fully aware of what was going on for large segments of each day. He convinced the notary that he knew what he was doing because he did know what he was doing. As soon as he had been able to call Nancy “My wife” once, Rick began again to slip away. That was gut wrenching, as for those 4 days Nancy hoped his lucidity was a sign he was recovering. Rick was definitely a man who saw “. . .things that never were, and ask, ‘Why not?’” But Rick did so much more than that – he then made those things happen. The world has lost a genius. The world should weep. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, January 17, 2015 at 2:00 pm at First United Methodist Church, 502 Virginia St., Vallejo, CA. Meal to follow; please RSVP for meal by speaking to Nancy or mention it in the comments section of the web page. To view pictures, read comments or add pictures or reminiscences, go to www.twinchapelsmortuary.com and link onto “Rick Spill.” Please feel free to honor Rick in any way you wish – flowers, donation to the charity of your choice, assistance in defraying expenses, committing acts of kindness in his name, or simply by sending loving thoughts to those left behind.

Rick Spill

January 2, 1948 - October 13, 2014