Richard A. Cabral Jr.

 
 
 
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Co-workers write an ode to Richard A. Cabral Jr.
They miss Richard A. Cabral Jr. at work.

They miss his tattoos, the ones featuring characters from author J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. They miss the jokester who sometimes wore a crown at work, fashioned from the twist-ties used to close a bread bag.

For the last six years Cabral, 37, of Attleboro, Mass., has been one of the "mill boys," the guys who worked together in the raw materials department of Leach & Garner in North Attleboro, Mass., making parts used to design 14-karat gold settings for jewelry.

Co-worker Terri Fraatz called Richard and the guys the "mill boys" because they shared silly rituals such as "banging of the pipes." That's when they would pretend that the building's pipes were musical instruments and bang out a beat.

"I only knew Richard for 2 1/2 years. He was a quiet guy when we first met; however, over the years, we ended up debating everything under the sun," said co-worker David Provencher in one of the many tributes employees have written. "It shows a lot about Dick that a fun family outing was going to Great Woods for an all-day Oz festival."

That's Oz as in Ozzy Osbourne, the heavy-metal singer and, more recently, MTV reality-show dad. Unlike some dads, Richard, 37, gladly listened to the music.

"He liked it all," his wife Catherine said of hard-rock music.

Richard grew up in Taunton, one of three sons of Richard and Carol Cabral, and graduated from Taunton High in 1983.

Catherine says Tolkien's world of hobbits and wizards battling great evil had captured her husband's interest for years. He enjoyed the recent movie adaptations and had tattoos on his back of all the major characters from the trilogy. Mostly, though, his wife remembers a family man.

"Very caring," she says, noting that the family never lacked for anything. He and Catherine would have celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary in June.

Now, after fire took one of their own, men who work with metal at Leach & Garber have turned to writing, to remember.

One wrote: It starts with heat and then it's cool,

Drawn by a friend

And put on a spool

Work orders are all put in a row.

Sorted by our friend

We all know.

Ask for something, and you'll hear "what"

And things you were looking for,

You always got.

His arms were covered with tattoos he liked.

Wrestlers like Cain

And the Undertaker on a Bike.

The man who made wire. Made it for all.

He is sadly no longer with us

Our friend Richard Cabral.

-- (Profile by Journal staff writer Michael P. McKinney)

2.25.2003

Richard A. Cabral Jr.

Obituary

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday for Richard A. Cabral Jr., 37, of Summer Street, Attleboro, Mass., a precision machine operator.

He was the husband of Catherine D. (Newton) Cabral; they had celebrated their 16th anniversary on June 21. Born in Taunton, Mass., a son of Richard A. Cabral Sr. and Carol (Silveira) Cabral, both of Taunton, he had lived in Attleboro for 12 years.

He was a 1983 graduate of Taunton High School.

Mr. Cabral had been working as a precision machine operator of precious metals for Leach & Garner, in North Attleboro, Mass., for six years.

He was a communicant of St. John the Evangelist Church, in Attleboro.

Besides his wife and his parents, he leaves a son, Richard A. Cabral III, and a daughter, Christine R. Cabral, both at home; three brothers, Gilbert Cabral of Taunton, Brian Cabral of Pawtucket, and Mark Cabral of Attleboro; and nieces and nephews.

source Providence Journal

   

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