Published:
01:02 PM August 13, 2022
The founder of a Norwich Star Wars club, who died of cancer nearly three years ago, had some of his ashes scattered at a convention celebrating the intergalactic space saga in the United States.
Richard Walker, who founded the Norwich Star Wars Club UK in 1999, lost his battle with prostate cancer in September 2019 aged 69.
This meant he was too ill to accompany club members to the Star Wars Celebration Chicago held earlier that year.
Mr Walker’s son-in-law, Lee Nelson, knew how badly his stepfather had wanted to attend a convention in the United States one last time and so vowed to take his ashes with him to this year’s event in Anaheim, near California. .
The Star Wars Celebration event in Anaheim, near California, held in May 2022
– Credit: Provided by Lee Nelson
Mr Nelson, who accompanied other club members to the event in May, said: “We took Richard’s ashes there, which is what we said we were going to do.
David Pye (left), Lee Nelson (center) and John Peruzzi (right) in the Millennium Falcon
– Credit: Provided by Lee Nelson
“Some of his ashes were scattered at Galaxy’s Edge (the Star Wars resort) at Disneyland, and then we scattered some around Anaheim, where the convention was being held.
The Star Wars Celebration event in Anaheim, near California, held in May 2022
– Credit: Provided by Lee Nelson
“Before I did that, it was on me, in a pouch.
“I said if he was with me, everything I saw, he was with me, and we saw it.
“That’s how I looked at it when it was all done.”
Richard Walker, founder of the Norwich Star Wars Club, died in 2019
– Credit: Archant Norfolk
The 45-year-old said after carrying Mr Walker’s ashes around the convention with him for a few days, he and other club members including David Pye and John Peruzzi scattered some of the ashes near the center.
He said: “We sat there and thought and told stories about Richard.
“It was really poignant.
“We all came back a little richer for doing it – it was pretty special.”
Mr Walker was well known to many Star Wars fans around the world and Mr Nelson said that on their trip “everywhere we went people were saying ‘sorry for your loss’.
As well as scattering Mr Walker’s ashes, Mr Nelson said they were also able to sell around 40-50 memorial club crests while they were there.
The Richard Walker memorial patch (top) with the Norwich Star Wars Club UK patch (bottom).
– Credit: Peter Walsh, Archant Norfolk
It means the club are “almost there” in terms of raising £1,000 for Priscilla Bacon Lodge, a Norfolk hospice which hopes to open a 24-bed palliative care unit next to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.
Visit www.norwichstarwarsclub.com for more club information.
