He is very young here in prison but I would love to know who this is 

This is a part of someting called Eternal Journey that Davin wrote which seemed appropriate today since he passed away a year ago. I like to remember this when it hurts to think he is no longer here.  

"I am the universe.  I am all of its constituents.  I am infinite and everlasting.  I was born in the cauldron of earliest creation and I will be present when the last photon fades.  I am eternity by another name.

I was told on Monday, April 4th, 2009, that I might have something bad.  (I have been sick since August of 2008).  I have been sick a long time with an illness I always attributed to something auto-immune.  But it could be cancer as well.  I have discovered that nothing sharpens the senses like a dose of mortality.

What have I accomplished in my life?  What do I amount to?  My most significant accomplishments are in the martial arts.  I have achieved a level that is rare.  I'm a master of three systems.  Two of those systems are arts that I created or modified from existing arts.  Tai chi is the first art I mastered.  Second came Evolutionary jeet kune do.  And third came aikido.  All of the arts I now practice are my own.  My style of tai chi is called the Five Element style.  My style of jeet kune do is called dao nei chuan.  And my style of aikido is called The Method.  All of the styles I created are superior to their original versions.

My other contribution to the world is my writing.  I think I am a competent writer, but not an outstanding one.  My writing is unique because of my unique perspective, and not because of my skill.  As of this date (April 11, 2009) I have written three novels, three novellas, and around thirty short stories.  I think I have the potential to be a much better writer, so long as I have the time to develop the skills".

Davin contributed so much more than this to others in prison, to his family and to his friends.  He always listened, he had a wonderful sense of humor, and he never gave up.  He always asked how you were and what you were doing before he would talk about himself.  He loved his father, his mother, his brother, and I and his best friend outside of the prison walls, David.  I think we always felt that love over the years even when we were separated from him by prison walls. There were no walls around his heart.

Love you Davin  

I met Davin for the first time in 1988.  He spoke to college students at SWOSU in Oklahoma, along with 2 other men, about recidivism.  One of the pictures on here remind me of Davin's posture, dress and look that day.  He is sitting on a table in a t-shirt and jeans.  The three men were excellent speakers, but Davin was easiest to talk to. He made you think and explained things so that we could all understand it.  I then began to go to the Granite Reformatory weekly with the college to the "Lifers" ,meeting. This meeting involved 50 or more men that were in prison for life, thus the term, Lifer. I remember Davin watching out for all of us when we walked through the yard and while we were locked in the room with all the men. He was completely aware of his surroundings and knew each man.  Davin and I began our letter writing and through that he became a part of my life.  He was so talented in many ways.  I was always amazed that he could survive in such a horrible circumstance.  I would go to visit him at Lexington, Oklahoma and found that even the visitors were not treated very well.  He made the very best of a awful situation.  I think Davin was God's tool for others in prison  to see that a person can flourish even when given very little, when hope seems far away, and even when your life is at stake each day. He gave others hope in their own lives.  I am sure that others in prison with him grew personally just from knowing Davin.  He definately touched those of us outside of those prison walls too. His strength and will power to better himself was truly inspiring.  We wrote many letters and through them, I was able to grow, learn and make it through some difficult life times.  And Davin was there to help me along the way.  He was always postive and encouraging.  I will miss him. No one can replace him.  But I am a better person to have known him and loved him.