David W. Green

David Weldon Green passed away on June 23, 2021. He was preceded in death by his parents, Walter and Ruth Green. David is survived by his wife of 62 years, Barbara, and their two children, Terri Green Stowe and David Vincent Green. He is also survived by his sister, Eleanor Thornton, his brother, Charles Green, and his two grandchildren, Steven Stowe and Brigitte Green.

David was born in Hagerman, NM, on October 8, 1939, and moved to El Paso, TX, as a child. He was a member of Austin Park Christian Church, where he met his future wife, Barbara Dispenza, at a youth summer camp. David graduated from Austin High School in 1957, and later married Barbara in 1959. Although David was not called to serve in the armed forces, he did complete two years in the Junior Division Reserve Officers’ Training Corps while attending Austin High School, and graduated as a Cadet First Lieutenant.

David attended Texas Western College (UTEP) as a Music major (on scholarship from the EPSO), studying violin, viola, chamber music, music theory, and music education, along with additional coursework in college-level math. While at Texas Western, he was a student instructor of violin and a recording studio technician. David later completed 3 semesters of night school at UTEP as a Science major. He also took business management, negotiation, and other courses provided by his employers.

David’s life-long passion was playing the violin, and later included playing the viola. He knew he wanted to play the violin at an early age. His mother was the church organist and pianist, and she provided a lot of musical opportunities and encouragement. David started private violin study at the age of 8. He was a member of the Austin High School Orchestra (and was Concert Master for 3 1/2 of those years), and made first chair of the Second Violin section in the Texas All State Orchestra as a Junior. This led to his induction into the Austin High School “Hall of Fame” in 1966. He was mentored by Abraham Chavez beginning at age 12, and joined the El Paso Symphony Orchestra at the age of 14 as a member of the 2nd Violin section, and moved to the 1st Violin Section after several seasons. He played in the El Paso Symphony for over 50 years, in positions including Associate Concert Master, Principle 2nd Violinist, and Principle Violist. He was also a member of Pro-Musica chamber orchestra, in the positions of Principle 2nd Violinist, Principle Violist, and member of 1st Violin Section, as needed.

David also performed in several other community groups over the years. He performed in the Baroque Ensemble of El Paso for over 10 years, playing a Baroque Violin, after studying period instrument performance at Oberlin Conservatory, with Marylyn McDonald and others, and at North Texas University, with Stanley Richie. He played with the Mount Diablo Symphony Orchestra as a Principle Violist (northern California community orchestra); and, the Las Cruces Symphony at NMSU for over 15 years.

A life-long devotee of chamber music, David participated as a violinist or violist in many chamber music groups, playing both locally and nationally. This included attending over 21 years of the annual San Diego Chamber Music Workshop, and performing with the Zanotti String Quartet (based in Los Alamos, NM). David was a member of the American Viola Society and the Chamber Music Network.

David and his family were also members of the congregation at Grace United Methodist Church. The entire family was active in the music program there, with David and Barbara members of the Sanctuary Choir, and the kids in the various youth and children’s choirs. David also played as an instrumentalist for various music programs.

David was also successful in his professional life, and enjoyed the challenges and rewards that brought. He started off in 1959, as a teller trainee for the State National Bank of El Paso, working in the receiving/vault/paying related to the Exchange and Military Annexes. He soon transitioned to computer programming, and later returned to being as the Head Pay teller, this time in-taking armored car deposits. But he’d been bitten by the programming bug, and left banking for the El Paso Natural Gas Company in 1963, where he started as a Programmer. After 5 years, he was promoted to a Senior Programmer, and started managing a small group of programmers, in addition to his own work of implementing various systems and programs. Within 7 months, he was promoted to Lead Programmer for Financial and Administrative Systems.

David’s skills as a programmer continued to grow, as did his ability in program management and systems management, along with his skills for managing group of people working towards common goals in new and innovative areas of manipulating large amounts of complex data using main frame computers. This led David to act as a consultant, and then join the newly formed General Computing Services, Inc. (GCS), as their Director of Technical Services in 1970. A year later, he was promoted to Director of Systems and Programming. While in these positions, a new capability called the Direct Dial Data System (DDS) was developed by GCS, with David doing much of the design and development of the software used by the system. Less than 2 years later, he was promoted as Assistant to the President and General Manager of the Foreign Division. Although David was based in El Paso, this began a period of field assignments, mainly in Toronto, Ontario. Although all of this travel for extended periods of time was tough on the family, there were perks. In 1973, David brought the family up for a month-long extended vacation in Toronto. Not only did they get to experience life in a foreign country, but the kids got to miss the start of the school year! There were many found memories of what was probably the most memorable family vacations.

In 1974, General Computer Services was acquired by Greyhound Computer Corporation (yes, the same Greyhound as in the bus company), which was based in San Francisco, and necessitated relocating to the Bay Area. David started in January, 1975, and was followed by the family at the end of the school year, where they settled in Walnut Creek. David’s new position was that of Regional Director of Direct Dial Data Services.

David and his family returned to El Paso in 1976, where he rejoined El Paso Natural Gas as the Manager for the Gas Settlements Department until he retired in 1998. This left him more time to devote to his music activities, and spending time with his family.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at Funeraria del Angel Central, 3839 Montana Ave, El Paso, TX, 79903, on August 1, 2021, with the doors opening at 3 pm and the service at 4 pm. A reception will follow the service. The service will be live-streamed on https://www.facebook.com/fdacentral/.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation be made to the El Paso Symphony or Pro-Musica.