Deceased May 9, 2022
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In Memory
Ric was born July 15, 1938, to Paul Wesley and Frances Sybil (Winney) Prindle in Stamford, Connecticut, and grew up in Darien, Connecticut. He graduated from Darien High School where he was active in the theatre, glee club, playing drums in band and was a member of the National Honor Society. His classmates in his 1956 yearbook describe him as being a “conversationalist” and “able thespian.”
Ric went on to receive his B.A. in English from Amherst College in 1960. He graduated magna cum laude with honors. He sang in various choirs and played in the college band. He played lacrosse and was in the Phi Gamma Chi fraternity. Ric earned his master’s (1962) and Ph.D. (1977) in dramatic arts from the University of California, Berkeley. He became a member of Actor’s Equity in 1967.
Ric was involved in theatre for more than 55 years, as an actor, director and teacher. He acted or directed with (among others) Aurora Theatre, Berkeley Rep, The Magic Theatre, ACT, TheatreWorks, One Act Theatre, TheatreFIRST, Golden Thread Productions, Addison Stage Company, Colorado Shakespeare Company and several NYC theatres. He was artistic director for the One Act Theatre Company in San Francisco from 1979-1984.
He garnered awards for acting from Bay Area Critics Circle (three), Dean Goodman Choice Award, SF Chronicle Award, Eisner Acting Award and the National Industrial Films Competition.
Ric taught for 30-plus years (UCSC and CSU East Bay). He was a professor of theatre (acting) and creative video program director at CSU East Bay 1984-2004. Ric received five American College Theatre Festival Awards for directing.
For all who knew Ric, he was passionate, strongly opinionated, impatient and sensitive to the injustices of the world. He described himself as being a hedonist, always saying, “Yes!” He loved life.
Besides his theatre work he followed national politics closely and donated to many causes. He was a member of the Berkeley Camera Club and Dance for PD Group. He was enthusiastically involved in gardening, designing/carpentry, stained glass art and photography (including his annual calendars).
Ric is survived by his wife, Teresa Holtgraves, of Albany, California. They met in 1978 in an improv class at UCB Extension – San Francisco, and even though their paths diverged after three years, they reunited in 1992 and spent the last 30 years together. They were married in 2000. Ric, being an only child, rejoiced in marrying into Teresa’s large clan of her parents, seven siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews. Over the years Ric and Teresa had the joy of independent travel to numerous countries (Morocco, India, Bali and Thailand, to name just a few). Exploring ancient temples, museums and learning about various cultures was a passion. Besides enjoying the visual arts, theatre and music, both were cinephiles. They also shared a love of beaches, hiking, camping and canoeing throughout the Sierra, Northern California and Cape Cod. When asked whom he would invite to dinner (anyone dead or alive) Ric said, “Thoreau, because of his love for the natural world.”
Ric actively co-parented his sons and daughter and took great joy in watching them grow. He is survived by his former wives, Susan White and their two sons, Gabriel Prindle of Sebastopol, California, and Julian Prindle, daughter-in-law Sheila Mullen and grandchildren Seamus and Nora of Concord, New Hampshire; Angela Mason and their daughter Elizabeth Prindle of Santa Clara, California; his cousin Robert and wife Peggy Petitmermet of Escondido, California, and their daughter Giverny of Briarcliff Manor, New York.
After living in Albany, California, since 1978, Ric moved into a small care home during his last year of life due to his increased needs related to a 2013 Parkinson’s diagnosis. He died after a very brief illness of pneumonia. Ric was surprisingly at peace and content during his final years. He knew and expressed that he had lived a blessed life. Ric chose to be cremated and have his ashes scattered at sea near the Golden Gate Bridge.
The poem “Waiting By the Sea” by William Stafford, which Ric kept in his office, says it best.
This tidepool day you inhabit contains more than
you need. It stirs now and then to bring
faint news of old storms deeper than the earth. From
caves around you feelers and claws wave
their greeting, then slowly withdraw
and wait for tomorrow.
Sunlight is alive when it swims down where you are,
and you stand still, alert to take in the sun.
You become a stone, then a ghost of a stone, then
the gone water’s brilliant memory
of where a stone was.
Making the day expand in your heart and return,
You play a limited part in whatever life is,
practicing for that great gift when enlightenment
comes, that long instant when the tide
calls your name.
Teresa Holtgraves