Today is a very tragic day. My brother, David, lost his life far too soon. He had a lot left to accomplish and it is sad that he isn’t here with us. However, today we should not focus on the grief, but instead celebrate his life. My brother was a wonderful man who lived his life to the fullest and would want us to celebrate his accomplishments today.

My brother was only one year older than me. We were close enough in age that we were very close and shared a lot of the same friends. Even though he was only a year older, he was extremely protective over me. There were times when I didn’t understand this and even resented it, but as I got older I realized that he just wanted what was best for me.

David and I were very close. We occasionally had sibling rivalries, but it was because usually we were both competing for the same girls. We used to have so much fun in our high school church youth Group.  Our Sunday evening after church activities usually involved a car chase, jaunts to Kilgore Cemetery, Shakey’s Pizza or getting ice cream at Spoon and Straw.  I am ashamed to admit that with David there were the occasional egg throws, or lawn jobs, toilet papering, and other things I just can’t bring myself to say. 

When we were growing up, I used to think that David was so cool. Girls seemed to flock to him and the guys all wanted to be his best friend. I wanted to be just like him. He was an incredible athlete that loved baseball and softball.  I remember some of our summer vacations used to consist of traveling all over California following David’s Babe Ruth Baseball team while he played in state championships.  He could really knock that baseball or softball out of the park with ease. He was an incredible outdoorsman too.  He loved to camp, hunt, and go exploring in nature in the Sierra’s and Idaho. 

David was a loving and dedicated son.  He loved his mother and father very much.  After our Dad passed away, David could be found at mom’s house cleaning gutters, hanging Christmas lights, trimming trees, laying tile, etc.  He was very overprotective of mom and was always concerned about her welfare, making sure she always used her home alarm system whether home or not. I saw the tables turn as mom became overprotective when Dave was ill and could no longer care for himself. She became one of his caregivers and did so with such great grace and sacrifice.

He was an incredible uncle to all of his nieces and nephews and could always be found on the floor wrestling with them or planning some prank for others.  David would ask them to smell their birthday cakes and then proceed to push their faces into their cakes. He loved to buy loud, musical toys for them and chuckled as the rest of us bemoaned them. He would take them hunting for rattlesnakes, 4-wheeling in the foothills, and when my sons were young and said black and white movies were no good, David allowed them to watch Psycho.

My brother was a dedicated and loving husband to Dawn. He always spoke highly of his life with Dawn and loved her more than anything in life. Whenever I spent time with him and Dawn I could tell how much they loved each other.  Whenever he called Dawn on her phone, he would start the conversation with, “Hello, Gorgeous”.  I will always be there for Dawn for anything she needs.

I came to hate Alzheimer’s very much, especially as David’s life continued to deteriorate.  I would like to ask you participate with me and join my team at the Alzheimer’s Fund Raiser Walk scheduled for Saturday, October 1, 2016. We will walk and celebrate David’s memory together.   I have a sign-up sheet for those interested in participating.  If you are not able to walk, but would like to sponsor a walker, there is a place for you to sign up, too. 

I know that it will be very difficult for my family going forward without David in our lives. However, I also know that my brother would not want us to be overwhelmed with sadness.  He has been made new with a new body and mind. He was a very strong and positive individual and would always look for the best in any situation and would want us to do the same. Let’s remember David for all of his great qualities and appreciate the time we spent with him. We should make sure that his memory lives on in all of us for as long as we live.

I don't even know where to start with the stories. There are so many great times four boys can have! One memory was cooling off apparently hot, innocent pedestrians with a bombardment of water balloons from the back windows of the family station wagon, which David figured out if you turn the air cleaner cover over, it sounds like a hot rod. I also recall running through the park behind our house.....not because we craved exercise but because for some reason, a dog owner released his Doberman pincher named "Charlie" with the command to "get em Charlie" on four innocent boys......perhaps had something to do with eggs and an RT bus on Zinfandel? How about four young boys attempting to set their garage on fire using candles to blacken the rafters from our fort in the garage. The term half-way house across the park sure brings back memories of midnight swims and other fun. One of the best is when we decided we wanted a lot of leaves in our backyard to jump into and play football in. I guess with two mulberry trees and a cherry tree mom and dad probably thought we had plenty. Not enough for four boys! We volunteered to take up all of our neighbors leaves and brought them to our back yard. I am pretty sure mom and dad were amazed at how many leaves we had that year. Drive-in movies (with everyone in the trunk) and scaring everyone after church on Sunday nights at Kilgore cemetary with "Dolly". Playing softball with Dave especially in our Snoball tournaments at Lake Tahoe. We played at 8 a.m. With the temp at 8 degrees and three feet of snow on the field. When we returned to our house in Tahoe Donner to BBQ tri-tip, the propane kept freezing. David volunteered to take the tank in the hot tub with him to warm it up....that didn't really work but made for some great photo ops. David will be sorely missed. He had a twinkle in his eye and the best smile ever! Going to miss you bro! Love you David. 

One of my favorites is a softball story as well. We were playing Rec. league at W.E. Mitchell Jr. High school in Rancho Cordova. David was batting, I was coaching first base. He hit the living daylights out of the ball to deep right. It landed on the far side of the blacktop path, bounced onto the track, and kept rolling down the track. (Look up Mitchell on a map website, you'll see how far it went.) I think David crossed the plate before the right fielder got to the ball. When the ball finally made it back, it was egg-shaped. After the season, his bat had a permanent bow due to the force applied. He was such a strong man.   I played ball with David for more than twenty years, and never tired of being on the field with him. He was a competitive gentleman, something of a rarity. My world is a smaller place.

One of my favorite memories of Dave happened about 15 years ago. I had just graduated from Cordova and was looking to continue playing softball somewhere.  Dave invited me to come and join the rec team he ran. He asked me where I usually played. I replied with 1st base. He told me 'nope, thats my corner. You can play the other corner!  The hot corner as we call it.' I thought he was crazy. He just gave me his signature Dave smile and said 'Just knock the ball down and get it to me and 1st. It'll be great and you'll be fine.' I loved that he had such confidence in this new young kid to invite me to join his team. I was able to spend a few years playing the corner opposite Dave and I knew he'd dig out anything I threw at him. I've now taken over playing 1st base for my current team and still miss taking the field with Dave. He will be truly missed. Wonderful guy and friend. 

I hope he keeps my corner open for me, so one day we can play another game.