Hendrika "Rika" F. (Kraan) Hendricks

Rika F. Hendricks, a much-loved friend to many, wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed from this life unto the next on December 15, 2023, to join her Heavenly Father, husband, and many cherished pets. Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandsons, Rick III and Luke, were with her during her last hours as she took her final breath in peace. 

Rika was born on February 22, 1938, in Haarlem, Noord-Holland, Netherlands to Cornelis and Christina (Van Tuinen) Kraan. This was the beginning of an amazing life story filled with adversity, humor, love, and resilience. 

She was baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church as an infant. During World War II, she lived with her maternal grandparents whom she loved deeply and who supported and protected her under Nazi occupied Netherlands until she was 7 years old. These years were certainly very influential on the rest of her life. Her grandparents sent her to a Christian Grammar School which gave her a lifelong love of learning. It was the end of her formal schooling, but not her education, as she was a voracious reader. She could speak and understand five languages (Dutch, English, French, German, and Flemish), but as she would say, “some better than others”. 

In 1951, she emigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada with her mother and stepfather at the age of 13 before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia a few months later. She was put to work to support the family in her early life as a nanny for British nobility, as an elevator operator (before they were fully automatic), and a messenger delivery girl through the streets of Vancouver. At the age of 16 her family was able to enter the United States. They moved to Los Angeles first and then soon to San Francisco, which she considered her home away from home. She remained and was proud of her Dutch citizenship for her entire life.

Rika worked at the White House (not that one) Department Store in San Francisco where she met many of her lifelong friends. She was known as someone who never took herself too seriously but was always cutting up with a wonderful sense of humor. It was also at the White House where her beauty and poise were discovered, as she was asked to be a runway model. She displayed elegance, dressed stylish, and maintained that poise and her beauty the rest of her life. 

Rika met Richard, her husband and lifelong partner, at the Trinity Methodist Church youth group in San Francisco. They married on March 2, 1958. They had two children, Richard II “Rick” (1959) and Melanie (1963). The family moved from California in 1964 to Indiana (Kokomo and Bloomington), then to New York (Poughkeepsie) in 1968, only to return to the Bay Area in 1972. In 1992, she and Richard moved to Pacifica where Rika remained for 30 years.

A significant adversity Rika faced was a lifelong struggle with undiagnosed posttraumatic stress from her childhood during WWII manifesting as anxiety and agoraphobia. This difficulty was just another opportunity to overcome, demonstrating Rika’s incredible resilience. Having been housebound for many years while self-medicating, she was told by her doctor she needed to change or die. This was the motivation she needed to enact change showing the infamous Rika spirit.  

In her recovery and overcoming her agoraphobia, she learned to drive and reentered the workforce in her 40’s because she wanted her own car. She always had a love for convertible sports cars, so her first car was a new Alfa Romeo Spyder. It had a 5-speed manual transmission meaning she had to learn to drive a stick, which she did. Once she overcame her own challenges, she was never one to back down in support of others or herself. An example was when she saw there was no support group for agoraphobia, she started her own by taking out an ad in the San Jose Mercury-News and as a result helped a significant number of others who had been suffering as well.

Rika and Richard moved to Pacifica to be closer to the ocean which she loved having come from the Netherlands. Once there, she made lots of friends and could be seen tooling around Pacifica to the coffee shop, bookstore, pet grooming, the Moonraker Restaurant or just going to Rockaway Beach with her dog in her BMW Z3 convertible that she kept in immaculate condition. 

Her passion was visiting with others, whether out in the community at the coffee shop or at her home. She cherished whenever someone would visit and was always the consummate hostess. She teased she was an “ethnic mother” and would insist you eat whenever you would come to visit, so no one could ever leave hungry. She also had a sweet tooth and chocolate was her favorite which she was always willing to share. 

She was quietly generous and had a heart for the unprotected in society. When described by those who knew her best, the words most used are humorous, generous, meticulous, proud, caring, kind, loving, quality, elegant, and spirited. But what was most important to Rika was her love for her family and her greatest joy was found when she was in their presence.

Rika is survived by her son Rick Hendricks II and daughter-in-law Lori Daiello of Warwick, Rhode Island; her daughter Melanie Hendricks of Jackson, Georgia; her four grandchildren: Rick Hendricks III (Seattle, WA), Luke Hendricks (Washington DC) and his wife Regina, Lee Williams (Jackson, GA) and his wife Erica, and Jordan “JT” Hendricks (West Palm Beach, FL) and his wife Kadda; and five great grandchildren: River (Richard IV), Carice, Makayla, Lester, and John Hendricks. She was preceded in death by her parent and her husband Richard in 1996.

There will be an intimate Service of Remembrance at the Woodlawn Funeral Home, Cranston, RI (https://www.woodlawnri.com) on 27 December 2023 at 3:00pm and a Celebration of Life and interment at the San Francisco Columbarium in the Spring/Summer 2024 (https://www.dignitymemorial.com/funeral-homes/san-francisco-ca/san-francisco-columbarium-funeral-home/8131. 

Memorial donations may be made to The Humane Society of the United States (https://www.humanesociety.org).

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