There’s more on Rick’s routine and the special projects he’s proudest of later in this article. Meanwhile, let us ask, how did this still young man—Rick is only 38—get to the important post he now occupies? The story begins in Uvalde, Texas, where Rick was born in 1965. His father is Arnold Menchaca, his mother, Aurora Diaz Menchaca. They now live in Del Rio. Arnold and Aurora have four boys: Richard, Arnold, Robert, and Ray. Today Ray lives in Del Rio, Robert in Lubbock, and both Arnold and Rick in Midland. Rick’s father was for some years a fraud investigator for the Texas welfare system. He took up that work after a spell in music, directing a band, an occupation he concluded did not produce enough income for a family. The state work, however, resulted in the family’s having to move often to a different city; so Arnold, wanting to end the moving around, went to work for the Southern Pacific Railroad, a job he kept for more than 20 years. Working for the railroad, Arnold and his family could stay put in Del Rio.