Richard F. "Rick" Herubin, Jr., 64, a longtime resident of Superior, Wis. died Mon., Jan. 7, 2013 with his wife by his side in the VA Medical Center, Minneapolis, Minn. following a year long battle after a spinal cord injury with various complications following.

He was born Mar. 25, 1948 in Jacksonville Fla. to Virginia (Karlon) and Richard Herubin, Sr. and moved here as a young child. He was a graduate of Superior Senior High School and WITC-Superior.

He served his country in the U. S. Army, was a wounded Vietnam veteran and the recipient of many medals including the Purple Heart.

He worked as a Supervisor of Maintenance for the BNSF Allouez Taconite Facility and was in the process of retiring at the time of the accident.

Rick was a member of Holy Assumption Parish, DAV, VFW, American Legion and the Transportation Communications International Union Local.

Rick was a fun loving, friendly, loner type gentleman, who started his days with coffee and a strawberry topper at the café, then home to construct, demolish and reconstruct his home and yard. He loved his family! Other joys in his life were his tools, Ebay, CraigsList, privacy and his skidsteer and in his younger years Rick loved to hunt and fish!

In lieu of flowers donations can be made to the Douglas County Vets Transportation and/or the Twin Ports VA Transportation Dept., as this was Shari's transportation system to visit Rick for the past year in Minneapolis several times a week.

He is lovingly remembered by his wife, Shari Raymond-Herubin; daughters, Christie Herubin and Jamie (Paul) Pearson; son, Rick (Nicole) Herubin; step-children, Rick (Sandi) Raymond and Renee Raymond-Nelson; grandchildren, Blake J. Raymond, Abel and Noah Pearson, Logan, Lillian, Molly, Lucien, Finnegan, Magdalene and Winifred Herubin; the mother of his children, Tari (Bergren) Holtz; step-father, George Perpich; siblings, Ray (Donna) Herubin, Barb (Brad) Counter, John (Terri) Herubin, Kathy (Dwight) Willoughby, Mark Herubin, Gina (Roger) Welck, Tina Perpich (Shawn) Wallace; several nieces, nephews and cousins; and the love of his life, his dog, Shadow.

Preceding him in death were his parents, Richard Herubin, Sr. and Virginia Herubin-Perpich; a son-in-law, Todd Nelson; and his grandparents and many aunt and uncles.

At this time the family also wishes to extend a "very special thank you" to all of the staff at the Minneapolis VA SCI floor for the kindness and consideration shown Rick and his family, the transportation van drivers for the kindness and courtesy shown Shari; and to Suzanne and Ed for taking care of Shadow when needed.

Visitation will be from 1:00 p.m. until the 2:00 p.m. memorial service on Fri., Jan. 11th in Downs Funeral Home, corner of Ogden & 19th St., with Robert "Bob" Chammings, Deacon of Holy Assumption Church officiating. Military honors will be accorded by the Richard I. Bong American Legion Post No. 435. Inurnment will take place in Veteran's Memorial Park at Greenwood Cemetery.