Death
Dick died at the age of 27 while flying over Donner Lake. According to close friend Mary Ann Haswell, who survived an earlier crash into Donner lake with Buek, "Dick used to say he'd never make it to 28 years old." Reportedly, Buek and Haswell were towing water skiers at the time of the first crash. At the time of the second crash, Haswell remembered, "Dick died a few days short of his birthday."
Ironically, Buek wasn't at the stick of the airplane in which he was killed. It was a friend's plane and Buek was giving the friend a piloting lesson. The wings iced up and the plane dived straight into the icy waters.
"Dick was a dynamic person and ahead of his time in pushing the limits of extremism," recalled Haswell. "It was great being around him, if only for such a short period of time."
Dick is buried in the Oakland, California, area in an unknown cemetery.
He was characterized by Oakley Hall in Hall's 1963 novel, The Downhill Racers.
He was portrayed by Beau Bridges in the 1975 movie, The Other Side of the Mountain.
Read more about this topic: Dick Buek
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“To die, to sleep—
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To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there’s the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
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