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Dick Voss "OUTRAGEOUS WEAR" and a "HEART THAT CARES"

A family of 21 usually includes the cousins; for Dick Voss, it is his immediate family. "I am one of 21 brothers and sisters, number six in the line," replied Dick. "Being one of the older kids in a large family, I had to help take care of my younger brothers and sisters. As a large family, it just became a common thing. On an average, there were fourteen kids in the house at one time - in a three-bedroom house. Actually there was one bedroom downstairs and two upstairs so the girls had one room, and the boys had the other. Five in one bed. We would sleep crosswise on the bed so all of us would fit." Dick Voss grew up in Aboca, Minnesota, a very small Southwestern Minnesota town that shaped his values and his involved approach to life.

After eight years in the military he came to the Minneapolis St. Paul area. He worked: for the Department of Naval Air Station for two and a half years; the Immigration Services in St. Paul for eight years; the Post Office for twenty years; and then retired early at the age of 53 with thirty-three years of government service.

"After three months of doing nothing," Dick explained, "I took a part-time position at Hennepin County Medical Center for five years and then I was terminated and did nine months of nothing. I became quite depressed and decided to take on a position doing twenty-five hours a week working at Lunds with bagging and carry out. They had bigger plans for me. I soon became in charge of the dairy department. How perfect, their Dairy Queen. It's been three and a half years."

All of a sudden Dick had half of a day available. Having so much free time, Dick got involved in volunteering his time with "pretty much every AIDS organization in the Twin Cities." His first bike experience was the Registry Ride in 1995. That was an annual bike event across Iowa. After that experience he became interested in the AIDS ride. He realized, "I have to do this." He said he was so overwhelmed by the whole ride experience that it took four months to just come down from it. "It would just choke me up to talk about it. The experience is quite tough and I have to deal with a lot of aches and pains but because I can do it, I will continue to."

"In terms of training, I have gone to Spin classes every year. I have a Spin bicycle (a stationery bicycle) at home but I prefer to go to a class because it motivates me. The classes I took at the Hyatt Regency benefit me because the people are all doing the AIDS rides as well. You simply do what you can do, bit by bit and work your way into it. That is my approach to training."

The Heartland AIDS ride participants must raise $2500.00 and for Dick the more years he got involved with the ride, the more difficult it became to fund raise. "In my case, I am asking the same people over and over again. It always surprises me that someone will inevitably come up to me and say, 'I didn't get a pledge form.'"

One of the first things I asked Dick was how he got involved with Joan of Arc. He was quite dissatisfied with the Catholic Church. "There were a lot of doctrines and teachings of the church that I was not too happy with, that upset me so that I didn't go to church for a long period. Bill Murtoch took over and I was hooked. He really grows on you."

"I help Echo [Thoren] and Dorothy [Kalinowski] out with the front door, meeting and greeting people. I also take care of distributing wine and make sure the volunteers know how to do their jobs. When Echo goes on vacation, I like to become Echo and take care of her duties. This includes coordinating the host and wine servers, collecting money from the collection, and helping coordinate duties for communion. I have been doing this for the past five years."

As a rule Dick usually helps out with the Nine AM mass unless he needs to fill in for Dorothy or Echo for the Eleven AM mass. "I like going to the nine o'clock service because the rest of the day is mine. Then I can go to Anodyne and sit with friends and catch up."

I asked him what contributes to his wealth of interest in volunteering his time and services? He replied, "Volunteering stems from having to share so much with my brothers and sisters."

Anyone can usually pick Dick out in a crowd. He'll dress as Dorothy for the AIDS ride, or one day wear a hot shocking pink pageboy wig, or on another day dress in regular street wear with a red ruby slipper pin. But once you get to know the man, what's far more memorable isn't his clothing, but rather his abundant inner strength and compassion. You get to know a man who is filled with a generous spirit and loving heart.

"Dorothy" Voss(right) during the blessing for Team Oz in AIDSRide 2000

One of the parishioners describes meeting Dick Voss this way: "I was going down the aisle to communion last year during Mass when Team Oz was being blessed. A tall man was standing behind the wine servers, smiling broadly and pouring wine into their goblets. As my glance traveled down I realized he was wearing deep red spangled high-heeled shoes. I said to myself, 'You've got to love that man!' As the weeks wore on, we smiled and greeted one another and soon I received a huge hug that enveloped me and made me feel at home. And as I watched him week after week, I realized I could track his movement through the congregation, because wherever he went, people were smiling."

Michael Reinbold is a professional photographer and banquet caterer with an extensive theatre background in acting, writing, and directing. He loves all aspects of the arts, staying fit, and helping and inspiring people. A passionate believer in St. Joan of Arc's mission of social justice, Michael is a continuing AIDS Ride participant, Grace House volunteer cook, mass reader, and Joan of Arc choir member. He looks forward to web reporting and photographing for the website.

There were fewer smiles this year at the AIDS Ride Team OZ Mass Blessing. There were many tears and some of them were saltier because Dick Voss, who had ridden every year, had fallen two days before. He had broken his collarbone and wouldn't be able to ride. The Team couldn't leave him behind, however, and arranged for him to travel with the crew so he could lend his great, exuberant presence to the ride.