AFTER A SUCCESSFUL and rewarding career as a bookseller, he’d settled comfortably into retirement in his book-filled flat on Bush Street across from St. Dominic’s Church.
Then disaster struck Richard Hilkert.
Richard Hilkert (1928-2014)
He was walking home from a 78th birthday massage early on the afternoon of August 29, 2006, when a rampaging driver ran him over in the crosswalk at Sutter and Steiner. More than a dozen local residents were injured and one person was dead when the deranged driver’s spree came to an end. Hilkert had a broken shoulder, but recovered — and found himself more popular than ever, his plight having received wide news coverage.
“I think people had forgotten I was still alive,” he said a few weeks later. “Now they’re calling and inviting me for lunch.”
His charmed life continued for eight more years, until he died on October 9, 2014, at age 86.
Hilkert had continued to live alone in his apartment, surrounded by books and art and music, tended to by a caring circle of friends and neighbors — including those across the street at St. Dominic’s, where he was a member.
He was delighted when St. Dominic’s built a columbarium behind its main altar and he secured a niche for himself.
“I only have to move across the street,” he would say, having prepared detailed instructions for how he wanted his final rites to unfold.
That will happen on November 14 at 1 p.m. when a memorial service will be held in the Lady Chapel at St. Dominic’s.