Dick K Klein

DICK K. KLEIN

1941 - 2023

Today, we celebrate the life of Dick Klein. Endearingly known to many of us as “Opa”, he meant many things to many people. A grandfather, a father, a husband, a brother, and a friend to many, Opa lived life to its fullest.

He was an exceptional man who lived beyond the boundaries, whether physical or cultural. As a boy, growing up in post-war Netherlands, he was an honor student, excelling as an athlete in the Hockey rink, a sport which he never stopped playing even as he grew into his title of “Opa” or grandfather. As a young man, not accepting the societal norms that would have kept him in Holland, he rejected the roles and occupations he was prescribed based on Dutch tradition, and left his home country at the age of 18 years, never to look back. From the Port of Amsterdam, he set sail for the New World, landing at the Port of New Orleans, where his career as a world-traveling master Chef and culinary connoisseur began, eventually landing him in world renowned Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

It was here that he met the love of his life, Sun Chae Klein, who we lovingly refer to as “Oma” or Grandmother. As Oma likes to tell the story - usually while laughing like a schoolgirl - Opa would approach her everyday at work, and he would say “You are beautiful, would you like to go on a date with me? To which Oma would say, “What?! No way, get outta here, I’m working”! But Opa was a persistent man. Everyday for months and months on end he would use the same exact pickup line, and ask the exact same question. Maybe it was love, maybe it was exhaustion, but one day, Oma finally said “yes”.

From that day onward, they shared a love that would take them to the ends of the earth and back. From the day he left Holland, Opa desired to see the world. Together, Richard and Sun, Opa and Oma, ventured to places most would only dream of - from Oma’s homeland of Korea, to the Anatolian steppes of Turkey; from the Himalayan mountains of Tibet, to the high desert of the Mongolian Steppes, where Opa said he got the best rest in his life, staying in traditional yurt roundhouses, the same dwellings in which the great emperor Genchis Khan resided. And Likewise, Opa lived like a King, with his Queen, Sun, by his side at every turn.

Opa’s fascination with the world never ceased. When he wasn’t traveling, Opa would come home to a historic archive of stamps he spent a lifetime collecting, representing countries spanning the globe. He worked to bring the world's culinary flavors to the millions of people who visited the establishments he ran in Las Vegas. All the while, he never stopped playing the game of Hockey, a childhood joy he carried his whole life.

A man that transcended boundaries, he was a beloved member of a multicultural family, who delighted in his culinary magic, and lighthearted storytelling. He was a man, who even after

receiving news of his terminal illness, refused to accept it, and fought back with smiles and laughter that would make even the most pious cry hysterically. That is the memory we have of Opa when we think of him. His chuckling boyish laughter in the face of life’s biggest adversary, Time.

To quote the Persian poet, Rumi:

Goodbyes are only for those

who love with their eyes.

Because for those who love with

heart and soul there is no such thing

as separation.