David Allen Bedford

David Allen Bedford, 73, of Fort Worth, passed peacefully in his sleep surrounded by loved ones at home after a courageous battle of pancreatic cancer and a number of other health issues on February 21, 2023.

Born in Fort Worth Texas on 24 July, 1949 to A. Benjamin and LaNell W. Bedford, he spent his formative years in Argentina, where his parents were Baptist missionaries for decades. Although he was born in Texas, he always considered himself an Argentine, and had strong ties to Argentina where he met his wife, Patricia Monica Roberto. After a long-distance relationship full of letters sent by airmail, David and Patricia were married in the Baptist Theological Seminary of Buenos Aires on 11 June, 1977.

Always a lover of traveling and exploring new places, they spent their first year of marriage filling up their passport on travels around the world, visiting countries in Asia, Africa, Central America, and South America. Their love of traveling and exploring eventually took them to many places in the world, from the northernmost point in Iceland to the southernmost end of the world, Ushuaia, Argentina.

After graduating as salutatorian at the American Community School in Buenos Aires, where he introduced one of his favorite authors and commencement speaker, Jorge Luis Borges, in 1967, David earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts, both in French with a minor in Spanish from Texas Tech University in 1970 and 1973, respectively, and a PhD in Foreign Language Education from the University of Texas in Austin in 1976. He also earned a Master of Theology from Southwestern Theological Baptist Seminary in 1994. His pursuit of knowledge was never ending, even until his last days.

His career as a linguist and translator took him to many places, first to the Missionary Orientation Center in Pine Mountain, Georgia, where their first son William Adrian was born in 1979, to Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, where he was the Language Lab Director and Spanish Instructor, and to Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil, where he was the director of the Portuguese Language School. While in Campinas, David and Patricia also served as Baptist missionaries where they adopted their second son, Sergio Cesar Benjamin in 1989 at four days old. Their daughter Monica Sabrina Galadriel was born in 1992. They returned to Fort Worth where he completed his second Master’s degree, and he started working at Texas Christian University in 1996 where he worked for 26 years. David loved teaching Spanish and taking students to Puebla, Mexico, attending numerous Frog Camps every summer, Habitat for Humanity Spring Break Trips, and was an active member of the Faculty Senate for many years.

David had a knack for languages, and could speak, read, and write in eight different languages, was learning modern Hebrew, and wanted to give himself a challenge with a tonal language—Mandarin. David’s voracious love for language was not limited to spoken word-he wrote eight books, ranging from teen fiction and short stories in Spanish to theological essays. He also wrote a dozen hymns and numerous academic articles ranging from criticism on Spanish literature to foreign language education pedagogy. His way with words also was expressed through humor, as he played with languages through jokes, puns, and old slang and vernacular. He also loved visual art, from photography to oil paintings, sketches, and nurtured his children’s passion for creative expression.

David and Patricia were members of Agape Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon, the church moderator, a Sunday school teacher, and a tenor in the choir. There he got to express his love of music. He enjoyed listening to the pastor, Michael Mills, and wonderful music from long dear friends Bruce and Nancy Muskrat.

David is survived by his loving wife of almost 50 years, Patricia R. Bedford, and children William Adrian (Ellie) of West Sussex, England, Sergio Cesar Benjamin of San Marcos, Texas, and Monica Sabrina Galadriel (Andrew) of Santa Clara, CA. He is also survived by his niece, Iara Rocio Yasmin, of Stillwater, OK, and loving granddaughters Sofia and Dorrie of West Sussex. He is also survived by his father A. Benjamin of Evanston, Illinois, his endearing mother-in-law, Maria Esther Riobo Roberto of Buenos Aires, sisters Nelda (Alberto) of Cordoba, Argentina, and Nancy (Daniel) of Evanston, as well as a host of other extended family members all around the world. He was predeceased in death by his mother, LaNell Bedford and his father-in-law Julio Cesar Roberto.

The family wishes to extend our sincere thanks to Dr. David Jordan, the oncology team at UT Southwestern in Dallas, hospice and rehab nurses and staff, and many friends who showered our family with love, meals, cards, calls, visits, prayers, and support.

A Celebration of Life will take place at Agape Baptist Church, 3900 Southwest Blvd, Fort Worth on 28, February 2023 at 1 PM followed by a private Burial.

To honor his love for all things TCU, we encourage guests to wear something purple.