Obits – Regina Rickey

Regina P. Rickey, who headed the public notice section for Missouri Lawyers Media, died of cancer Tuesday, May 13 at SSM St. Joseph Hospital West in Lake Saint Louis. She was 41.
“I can’t begin to describe the profound loss we feel here as friends and colleagues and as a community,” Richard Gard, Missouri Lawyers Media president and publisher.
Gard said when he joined the company he immediately saw Rickey as one of its stars.
“When she was our St. Charles publisher, I watched her run one of the best sales meetings I’d ever seen. Then she argued with me 10 minutes afterward, trying convince me she’s no good at sales,” he said. “She disproved that time and again in St. Charles and later, when we put her in charge of public notices, the biggest part of our business.”
Rickey began her career with the company when The Courier Post and Wentzville Union newspapers in St. Charles County were purchased in 1993. She had worked for the previous owner since 1988, and was called upon to handle many duties with the new operation.
She was named general manager of the St. Charles office in 1999 and in 2004 was named publisher of the St. Charles County Business Record. She was promoted to her latest position in 2006.
Gard said Rickey had a singularity of purpose that routinely made brick walls crumble.
“Finally, I thought, cancer had met its match. Talking to her, trying to keep pace with her these last several months, I found I continually had to remind myself this was someone with advance-staged terminal cancer,” he said.
“When, during a a recent bout, cancer and pneumonia made it painful to talk, Regina simply took to texting us,” Gard said, “some of it pretty hilarious.”
Associate Editor Will Connaghan remembered his longtime friend and co-worker as a true professional who charmed all she met with her love of life, her engaging smile and her unique sense of humor.
“I especially remember one incident when she called from our St. Charles office to inform me that a page of public notices was missing from that day’s paper,” Connaghan said. “I immediately went into panic mode, and began to see what we could do to fix this major problem. She waited about a half hour before calling me back to remind me that the date was April 1, and the only problem was that I was dumb enough to fall for her prank.”
Prior to working for the Business Record, Rickey got a taste of the newspaper trade working for the Troy Free Press and Lincoln County Journal in Troy, Mo. Rickey was a member of the St. Charles Optimist Club, serving on its board from 2002 to 2003. She also served as the editor of its monthly newsletter. Rickey was also a member of the St. Charles, St. Peters, O’Fallon, Lake Saint Louis and Wentzville chambers of commerce and ESPW.
She is survived by her daughter Kylie and son Tyler.