Richard Arthur Hafley, age 67 passed away peacefully July 3 ^rd ,2021 surrounded by his family and friends as he joined his heavenly Father, his loving wife Kathy, son Rich, his mother Julia Hafley and father Bill Hafley in the hereafter.  He died of complications stemming from a double lung transplant which extended his life another four years and six months. He is survived by son Jared Hafley, grandson Parker Hafley, granddaughter Adasyn Hafley, sisters Julia J. Miles and Sandra Proske, brothers Bill and James Ruble, several nieces, nephews, and many friends.

Rick grew up on a farm in Santa Rosa, Texas and then moved to New Braunfels where he graduated from New Braunfels High School. It was there he met and then married Kathlene Kneuper on November 29, 1971.  Rick enlisted in the US Army and then transferred his enlistment to the US Air Force where he served with honor as a high voltage electrician lineman. While assigned to MacDill AFB in Florida, he had an accident which resulted in a broken back causing his discharge from the service.  He moved his young family back to New Braunfels where he found work as a lineman at NBU and eventually with the Air Force as a civilian at Randolph AFB.  Rick was an entrepreneur at heart and went out on his own forming High Tech Imaging, a service providing infrared thermographic imaging to far flung clients from the deep silver mines in Mexico to the deep water oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. His back injury ultimately resulted in his status as a Disabled Veteran.

Rick made many friends along his journey and many of them were musicians and of course musicians formed bands. Rick was an accomplished guitarist, but his friend Keith Kimble needed a bass guitarist for a band called Muleskinner playing all kinds of pop music with bluegrass instruments which then evolved into Brazos a C&W show. Bands tend to come together and fall apart but eventually one of the friends, Jim Earl, formed a group called The Arbukle Boys playing trail drive era cowboy music in which Rick played the – wait for it- wash tub bass!  Meanwhile they added a drummer and formed a second group named The Cadillacs which played 50's Honky Tonk. His final act was with a spin off of the cowboy music called The Roughriders featuring nationally acclaimed fiddle Ricky Turpin.

Rick stayed busy doing minor maintenance and repairs for Bluebonnet Motors until he could go no more and where he made many friends. Among them he found solace after Kathy passed with Gerald Freisenhan at Union Valley Baptist Church in Nixon. There he committed his life to Christ.   He was an avid outdoorsman, hunter, and fisher, trekking to the mountains of Colorado in pursuit of elk and to Port Aransas in pursuit of red fish. He enjoyed many trips in company of his longtime friend, Leo Dye.  He adored sharing these adventures with his friends but especially with his son and grandchildren. He will be greatly missed by all of us.

A celebration of life is planned for the 24 ^th of July.