By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY’S TODAY
POINT LOOKOUT (Aug 3rd) --- All too often, the media fawns over large corporations and the illustrious chief executives who cavort in hotel ballrooms, company boardrooms and showy public events.
That’s Hollywood, New York and Washington, D.C.
While those lives are certainly part of the American story, it’s the small business owners like Rick Ince who are the fabric of the nation. From Cobb Island, to Broomes Island, to Point Lookout.
The small merchant, who has a couple of employees and more bills than he can pay, is the one who works as the ringmaster of our economy, conducting retail sales, aiding consumers in basic choices and keeping the entire economy going.
Nothing happens in America until somebody sells something.
At Point Lookout, when it came to bloodworms, boat engine parts, fishing lures, moon pies and prints by Mary Lou Trautman of uniquely Maryland nautical scenes, Rick sold them.
He won’t any more as he is now baiting hooks for St. Peter.
Rick had a massive heart attack on Wednesday and after more than 30 years running his Rick’s Marine, Rick will finally get a weekend off. This weekend and all of them in the future.
He sure did earn it.
Last Sunday another Marylander of mention was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He earned it too. Cal Ripken showed up every day for work and in this time of softness, of spoiled children being promoted out of high school on social promotions when they can barely read, have no idea of how to apply for a job or have any real skills, but expect to be paid in six figures, Ripken was a rock.
Rick Ince was also a rock and just like Cal, Rick was there every day, except his season didn’t end, it ran 12 months.
He worked long and hard running his boat sales and repair shop, marine engine and tackle shop. His was a task of a love of his customers and a love of life.
Waiting on folks at the counter or running a service call to someone’s boat, or delivering bait and chum to the fishing pier, Rick’s devotion to his customers was blunt, dependable and clear.
He didn’t mince any words when having to tell someone it was time to give up on an old engine and it was time to get some new power. He might have a good deal on a rebuilt engine and could get his customer back on the water in a couple of weeks.
Rick would have sold his store and retired in a few more years as he was getting tired and just plumb wearing out.
The competition from the big box stores was complete and dominating his trade just as so many other small businesses have been overwhelmed by the chain outfits.
He couldn’t hardly sell a boat any more, the big places in the suburban malls now nail down all the boat sales that the large dealers don’t make.
There are few new boat sales left for a small boat yard.
But Rick’s Marine could still compete when it came to specialty parts, custom rigs and late night bait, ice and sodas.
The big box stores could give a cut rate price on a new fishing boat but when something broke, it was Rick’s Marine where the fisherman would be reunited with a working engine.
Rick died just before his 64th birthday but it was about 10 years ago that he experienced the tragic loss of Ricky, his son, fresh back from Desert Storm, when he died in a late night crash.
Devoted to his grandchildren, Rick raised them himself for years.
Rick and his fiancé Lynn worked hard for long hours to keep their business open. They were truly devoted to each other over the last five years as much as to their business and Rick often said he only wished he had met Lynn 30 years earlier.
Their ability to work together made them happy and her efforts brought order and stability to both his life and rejuvenated the store.
Rick’s tough devotion to fairness made him an old duck when he served on the St. Mary’s Planning Commission when he was appointed in 1995. He could be counted on for common sense when it came to zoning, a real oddity in Leonardtown. The long hours of the planning board took their toll on him and when he left the commission it was a bad day for those supplicants who must work their way through the maze of madness in county zoning rules.
Now the man who was short in stature and tall in character has been removed from our world by the Good Lord, who, knew that when it came to getting advice on how to load his Divine Boat with great catches of fish, he has now turned to Rick Ince.
It seems that even though St. Mary’s County grows in tens of thousands of residents, the larger than life characters leave large shadows, such as the one cast by Rick as he was lifted from this land by the gentle hands of angels.
Goodbye, Rick, good fishing!
