Most Friday evenings for almost a decade, Ricky Overby would climb into the Ruin Creek Animal Protection Society van, put it in Drive and head out of town on a freedom ride. The thousands of dogs and cats that left Vance County for rescue and adoption groups up and down the East Coast owe their lives – literally – to Captain Ricky.
Overby died Tuesday after a short battle with cancer. But Brandon Boyd, RCAPS President, holds Overby up as an example as someone who selflessly gave of his time to further the RCAPS mission of saving animals.
Overby started out as a driver, Boyd told John C. Rose on Thursday’s Town Talk, but as the single van grew to a fleet of vans, Captain Ricky took on more responsibilities with RCAPS.
Boyd remembered his employee – and friend – as loyal and dependable. “He took pride in his work, in his job,” he said. “And he loved saving animals.”
He’d take off usually by 9 p.m. on Fridays, with dozens and dozens of dogs and cats loaded in the van. He’d make numerous stops along his way up the East Coast, his destination sometimes as far North as Albany, New York.
Sometimes, Boyd said, when he found himself awake in the wee hours of a Saturday morning, “I’d call the Captain.” The calls sometimes lasted five minutes; others lasted upwards of an hour, Boyd recalled.
His reputation for a loving, caring person grew as his transports continued – Boyd said it’s difficult to grasp just how widespread that reputation reached.
James Jackson, another local volunteer, stepped in when Capt. Ricky got sick. And Friday night, when Jackson settles in behind the wheel of the van loaded with 50 or 60 dogs and cats headed for New York, he and the other RCAPS volunteers will continue Capt. Ricky’s mission of doing God’s work of caring for animals.
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