Richard “Ricky” Lee Burks, 69 of Melbourne, Florida and formerly of Charlestown passed away at his home in Melbourne on Friday, October 25, 2019.
Mr. Burks was born on July 10, 1950 in Jeffersonville, IN the son of William Edward and Frances R. Lewis Burks. He was a retired Diesel Mechanic working for several years with the former Victory Freight Way Truck Sales which became Kentuckiana Truck Sales in Clarksville, IN. He was a United States Army Veteran of the Vietnam War. Mr. Burks had no formal education; however, he was known as an inventor with a knowledge of space travel, aviation, robots and coming up with ways to get free energy by using water and magnets. He would come up with ways to solve problems in his dreams; including new ideas. Mr. Burks believed that WD40 and Duct Tape could fix most things and some of his gadgets he came up with would be called MacGyverisms like what you would see on the TV show MacGyver.
Survivors include his daughters, Melissa McClellan(Mike) of Otisco, IN, Rebecca Lee of Palm Bay, Florida and Shannon Snelling of Otisco, IN; sisters, Joyce Bamforth of Charlestown, Barbara Honeycutt of Chicago, IL, Laverne Bodkin of Charlestown and Norma Crane of Jeffersonville, IN; grandchildren, Marina, Mikala, Malachi, Trinity, Sabrina, Sierra, Evan, Salena, Stefanie, Devin and Ashley; great-grandchildren, Lillie, Kairi and Jacob. Mr. Burks was preceded in death by his parents; first wife, Kay Campbell; second wife, Janet Engle Burks; son, Billy Burks; sister, Diane and brother, Larry.
Funeral services will be held on Saturday at 1:00 P.M. at the Grayson Funeral Home in Charlestown with burial in Charlestown Cemetery. Visitation will begin at 10:00 A.M. Saturday until the time of services