Rick O’Reilly was my neighbor on East Bay Drive in the 1970s. Like me, he and his wife Donna worked for the State of Washington. Donna and I worked for what was then called the Office of Community Development. Rick worked for a different agency. Rick and Donna loved to entertain and share the music on their player piano (does anybody know what these are anymore?). A big treat though was the food—Rick loved to cook extravagant meals, and I enjoyed quite a few at their house. 

I was aware of Rick’s bisexuality and knew he was still involved with a support group for gay men. Some of the men in that support group showed an interest in cooking, and at some point, Rick decided to start offering small-scale cooking classes at his house. He called his project “Bachelor Survival,” a class for guys. I thought that was an interesting project and decided to do a freelance story about his classes. The Daily Olympian (as it was then called) was interested in it and sent a photographer to capture some scenes from one of his home cooking classes. The newspaper ran a Sunday spread with photos and my story, gaining Rick quite a following of people wanting to know more about his cooking exploits. 

About a year later, Rick left his state job and raised the capital to open La Petite Maison on Division Street in West Olympia. His French cuisine immediately elevated the culinary scene in Olympia, which, as I recall, had very few upscale places to eat. It was a great success, and I was one of the avid customers. When I moved to Seattle a few years later to do graduate work, I lost contact with Rick and Donna. It was a very sad day in the late 1980s when I had a phone call informing me that Rick had died of AIDS. As it turned out, he had sold the restaurant, and the family (now with a son) had moved to Seattle. I drove across town a couple of days later to an open house that Donna held for him. It was such a sad day for me, remembering him as my neighbor, friend, and the smiling chef and proud owner of La Petite Maison.