Beverly Rick

On Monday afternoon, Beverly Rick was preparing to host a New Year's Eve party and had placed fresh flowers around her Rincon Valley home before going out to run an errand.

Rick was killed a short time later when her Toyota Avalon was struck head on by another vehicle on Highway 12 just east of Los Alamos Road.

George Rick said Tuesday that his 77-year-old wife was likely making a trip to the Safeway just a few miles from their home.

The driver of the Ford Focus that hit her also died in the collision.

"It's just a tragedy, all the way around," said Rick's daughter, Linda Davis of San Francisco. "The other driver has family, too."

Beverly Rick was born in San Francisco and attended Washington High School.

In 1951, she married George Rick, whom she met at a football game.

"She didn't like me at all," he said. "But I pursued her until she gave up and married me."

The couple had children soon after marrying and moved around the country frequently because of George Rick's Air Force career.

Beverly Rick was a stay-at-home mom to her two children, who said Tuesday that she always had dinner on the table and kept their home sparkling clean.

"My mom was born for the role of a housewife," her son, Steven Rick of Concord, Mich., said. "She really was the perfect housewife, in a good way."

Rick enjoyed gardening and reveled in arranging flowers from her yard, especially after the couple retired to Santa Rosa in 1971, her husband said.

Beverly Rick joined several local social organizations, including the Red Hat Society, Phi Beta Kappa and the Assistance League.

She also played weekly bridge games and was active for a time with First Baptist Church in Santa Rosa.

Rick was a dedicated mother and grandmother, her children said. In September, when her daughter married her same-sex partner in Sonoma, "She was just as proud as she could be and so supportive," Davis said of her mother.

And months ago, learning that she would become a great-grandmother in February, Rick cried in joy, her son said.

"It was a matter of seconds," Steve Rick said of the time it took for the tears to flow after Beverly Rick learned she would be a great-grandmother.

"She was really looking forward to the birth of her great-grandson."

In addition to her husband and children, Rick is survived by three grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at First United Methodist Church on Montgomery Drive.

-- Laura Norton