Richard Thomas Loving passed away peacefully on January 15, 2025, at the age of 73, in his childhood home in Coronado with his bass guitar cradled on his lap. His celebration of life will take place on March 18, and anyone who knew him is welcome to join. You may RSVP here.
Growing up in Coronado
Richard was born on February 11, 1951. His father, Lieutenant Alger Lindsey Loving, and his mother, Ruth Joan Francis Stanley, were married at the Hotel del Coronado. When his father passed away on March 8, 1951, his mother moved with Richard to Coronado. His daughter Julia Nardi-Loving tells the story, “My grandmother bought a house in Coronado. It was one of those old 1950s prefab homes. It was actually built on the mainland and then ferried over here. Grandma lived here until she was moved into an assisted living facility in 2005.”
Richard went through the Coronado school district and earned his high school diploma from CHS in 1969. He then went on to SDSU, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry in 1975. In 1983, he graduated from Columbia University with a Bachelor of Science in nursing and made the Dean’s List. From there, he earned his Master’s in Nursing, Psychiatric/Mental Health from UCLA. He was then invited to their new program, where he earned his PhD in Nursing Science and gave the graduation address in 1994. “At last,” the 43-year-old Richard began, “my mother can say, ‘My son, the doctor’,” gaining a laugh as he always could.
Early Childhood
“He was a curious child,” said Julia. “He liked taking apart gadgets in the house so he could learn how they work and put them back together.” Growing up in Coronado, Richard often told Julia stories of his childhood. “He attended a military benefit event for children who had lost a parent, and TV cowboy personality Hopalong Cassidy was there. There’s a photo of my dad, all of two or three years old, wearing a little holster and a cowboy hat, and Hopalong Cassidy is right there. He let him hold his pistol.”
“He also remembers the filming of Some Like It Hot. He used to tell me that Marilyn Monroe gave him a kiss. He saw her, and she said he was ‘such a cute little boy.’ Later it turned out that wasn’t true,” Julia laughs, “but Dad was never one to let the facts get in the way of a good story.”
Friendship, Travels, and Music
Throughout his life, Richard made two lifelong best friends: Michael Sawyer, who passed in 2020, and Jeff Haire. Julia recalls times when her dad would venture with Jeff on his 30-plus-foot sailboat. “He would invite dad and the family to go out on boat trips. A couple of times, Dad helped Jeff sail his boat from Mexico to San Diego. So, my dad had his sea legs, and they would scuba dive in Mexico.”
Richard was well-traveled. “He biked through Europe trying to get sponsored for a bicycle company called Trek. There’s a really cool photo of him wearing a Trek t-shirt in front of the Eiffel Tower. I can’t even talk about all his travels. Bali. Brazil. There are slides, literal slides for a projector, for all of them. History in this house is wild. No one has moved out of this house fully, ever.”
Richard also enjoyed his hobbies. “Dad was interested in music from a young age. He still has a large collection of vinyl records. He eventually bought a piano and a guitar and was learning other instruments as well. He was taking weekly lessons and practicing often.”
Starting a Family and Pursuing a Career
“He had done so much traveling, and he was working on all these degrees,” Julia says of why he met her mom, Donna Nardi, later in life. “They met in 1990, I was born in 1992, and they married in 1994.” Donna already had a daughter, Caitlin, from a previous relationship. “My dad treated Caitlin as his own.” Richard and Donna ultimately divorced in 2010.
In his career, Julia says, “He worked for Scripps Health, doing clinical research at the sleep center. He’s worked for Sharp Costa Mesa. He’s worked at UCSD. When he passed away, he was about to start the spring semester teaching clinical trials to prospective nursing students and doctoral students at CSU San Marcos. As Dad would put it, he kept trying to retire, but no one seemed to want to let him,” she chuckles. “He would take a couple of years off, and then he would get asked to do a lecture or an adjunct semester.”
Living Together as Adults
Julia graduated from CHS and the CoSA program in 2010. She then earned her AA from Pacific Conservatory Theatre. In 2013, she moved in with her dad in Coronado. “It was just me and my dad living here for a good couple of years, which, looking back on it as a young adult, was really cool.” She shares, “We would go on walks often. Walking down Ocean Boulevard, he would tell me all the lore about the historical houses and the different stories. He always seemed to know everything. He just had this wealth of knowledge. Any kind of question you could ask him, he knew some version of the answer. If not, he would go look it up and come back and tell you about it.”
In retrospection, Julia says, “The majority of the calmest moments in my life were spent with my dad. He was probably the most present person you’d ever meet. He would really sit with you, make eye contact, listen, and wait to respond thoughtfully, without judgment. He was a very contemplative man, a man of few words, in some ways, but in others, he was just this wealth of knowledge.”
Japan
Richard developed a love for Japan and its culture. He trained to be a docent at the Japanese Friendship Garden, where his celebration of life will take place. “For many years, he volunteered as a gardener when they were doing some of the remodeling. The landscaper who still maintains [Richard’s] Japanese garden in the backyard remembers working side by side with him.”
Richard’s first trip to Japan in 2003 was to present a poster in Sapporo on treating depression with light therapy. “He fell in love with Japan, especially with the culture, the artistry, the precise and careful way in which, as a culture, Japanese people do things. The goal of always bettering yourself, maybe not striving for perfection, but every day you can be a little bit better. The people are so nice, and he loved the food. He learned quite a bit of Japanese. I think he went to Japan around 12 times. I went with him three times: once for a graduation trip, once for an engagement trip, and once with just me, Dad, my ex-husband, and my ex-sister-in-law. My dad is a fabulous tour guide. He is very easy to travel with.”
Lessons from Richard
Julia shares advice that she gleaned from her father over the years. “A great piece of advice that his grandfather gave to him when he was a young boy was ‘Don’t let things bother you.’” Other words of wisdom from Richard include having an “attitude of gratitude” and that it’s okay to slow down.
“I always appreciated my dad’s ability to really slow down and notice small, joyful moments, the peaceful moments. You don’t have to rush everywhere. ‘Suffering is the resistance to pain.’ He held a lot of Buddhist values in that way.”
Affirmations for his Daughter
“I’ve been thinking about this recently,” Julia starts. “My dad consistently would tell me that I am remarkable. He would tell me that everyone who meets me likes me. There were others, but those two were the ones he consistently told me throughout my life. Sometimes I believed it, and sometimes I didn’t, and it didn’t really matter to him whether I believed it or not. Those moments, taking the time to say it, are the things I affirm to myself when I feel sad.”
Julia’s Next Journey & Celebrating Richard
Now living in the same house her father did, and her grandmother bought, Julia is navigating her own Coronado journey with her fiancé, Andy. “I’m living a quiet lifestyle. I’ll get back to yoga.” Right now, Julia is focused on saying goodbye to her dad.
Richard’s Celebration of Life will be on March 18, at 5 pm in the lower garden area of the Japanese Friendship Garden in Balboa Park. “We hope to welcome all persons who knew Richard in any way and would like to celebrate his life,” says Julia.
To attend Richard’s Celebration of Life, please RSVP here.
