My Words for David

David was an awe inspiring individual to everyone he met. He was an inspiration to me as he showed me a lot about being a friend. He never treated people in the sense of the masses; instead he treated each person as a special friend, David ALWAYS shared a special piece of himself with them. I know as I look out among all of you that everyone of you would say you had that unique relationship with David. I ask each of you to look at your friendship with David and I think you will find you felt special with him and that is a testament to the kind of man he was.

Some of you know David loved the water and he and I shared that in common. I would like to take a moment to share a couple stories that I shared with David in our 10 years of riding the North Platte River on our jet skies, the bikes we called them. There are so many I cannot even start to share them all but a couple come to mind that I think point out the person he was.

David’s caring to always help others was shown when one day we encountered a boat stranded in the middle of Northern Glendo on a bunch of mud that was only 2 feet under the water. We were riding out bikes and there in the middle of the lake was this boat and people standing outside the boat knee deep in water. Our bikes ride higher in the water and we rode up to see what had happened. They had driven their boat up through the river channel, which is deeper, and when they made the turn in the lake they hit this mud bar and stuck the boat. It took both our bikes and another small fishing boat plus the guy running his boat to pull it off the mud bar and back into the river channel.

Once the boat was back in deep water there were people still stranded out on the mud bar. David and I started shuttling them back to their boat. Once they were all back in the boat they invited us to a party that night as payment back at the marina. David and I went and had a great night of food, beer and great boating conversations with all kinds of great people. David and I always met the neatest people on our trips.

David’s gave his undivided time to me in the evening talking. Many a night of camping on the shores of the river or a lake we would light a fire and sit around just visiting. Many times the conversation was about sights of the day, Eagles, military aircraft flying the canyons, trains, old tractors we climbed on, and the dang rocks we hit with our bikes in the shallow waters. In other discussions we covered our families and he loved his more than anything else, as we shared great thoughts about our wives, and our children always with a smile on his face. And always our topics included our shared faith in the Lord. There is one small sentence that he said many years ago that has always stuck with me and I would like to share that with you now. David once said “There has to be a God, otherwise how could so many people, over so many years, write so many stories, about the same God and never know each other?” Always made me think the Lord shows himself to everyone that opens their eyes. David had his eyes open to the Lord and he showed it showed through him to his friends.

David made our friendship personal and special. He and I had a secret hiding place. Knowing David I would bet money he had one with each of you. Mine was in this small town bar on the eastern side of Glendo. I believe it is the only businesses in that town of like 50 houses. One evening after a day of riding and fun we took off in search again of warm food. We found this little bar and had burgers and beer. It was an awesome meal. We made a promise to each other that night that if the stresses of home got to us and either one of disappeared to get away for a while the other one of us would know where to look. We would go to this bar and either leave notice of where we were or be there having a burger and escaping. It was always the joke between us that if he was missing I would say to Leann don’t worry give me a couple hours and I will see if I can find David and let you know he is safe.

David I know you are listening to this and as you know I have left out some really good stories that only you and I will ever share. You have now moved on to the best food, drink and bar anyone could ever find. I want you to know I know where you are and when my day comes I hope to find you there enjoying and saving a cool one for me to again share those wonderful memories. Thanks David for your wonderful friendship. I was honored to know you, David and I will so sorely miss your friendship.