It took Rick Mellinger months to get back on his feet after the crash. The drummer was hospitalized at Yuma Regional Medical Center for five days with a compression fracture to his spine and a paralyzed left vocal cord.
"I sounded like Mickey Mouse," he says with a laugh.
He wore a back brace nearly nine months. "I could only take it off when I showered," he recalls. "When I finally got it off, my muscles had atrophied."
That's when he started physical rehabilitation, which changed his life. In the weeks and months that followed, Mellinger realized he really liked the work. In addition to restoring his mobility, the practice seemed to offer more potential for his future than rock 'n' roll.
In 1968, he landed a job as an orderly in St. Joseph's Hospital's physical therapy department, then later set his sights on respiratory therapy and enrolled in Pima Community College's program. His first job was at the then-new University of Arizona Medical Center. Within months he was named director of the respiratory therapy department.
Mellinger spent 13 years at UMC, leaving in 1983 for a company that supplied medical equipment to hospitals and clinics. Today he works for a company that provides medical equipment for home care.
"I'm absolutely ecstatic about how my life turned out," says the 67-year-old father of three.
He kept his hands in the local music scene, playing in a couple local bands. One included Dearly Beloved bandmate Terry Lee and Lee's wife Lil in the early 1970s. Somewhere along the line, as he and the Lees started families and dived into their careers, they lost touch.
Until one Sunday in 2005 when the Lees wandered into the Catalina Foothills Church and spotted Mellinger playing drums in the praise band.
With little prompting, the three re-formed The Dearly Beloved, adding longtime friend and bass player Mike Cooke - no relation to Shep Cooke. The band played at events throughout Tucson, including last year's Fourth of July "Let Freedom Sing" concert. It has been on hiatus since August, when Cooke died after being mauled by his pitbull.
Mellinger says he enjoys drumming as a hobby and has no regrets.
"If I would have stuck with music it would have been nothing but trouble," he says, recalling his days with the original Dearly Beloved. "I was the only sane one in that group."
