David Van de Houten

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.sorrentovalleychapel.com for the Van de Houten family.

David Bruce Vandehouten was born March 12, 1964 in Sarasota Florida while his father was an engineer working on the NASA space launches. David and his family soon moved to Maitland Florida where David grew up. David excelled in athletics and academics, playing on the high school football team (Go Silverhawks!) and participating in the Brain Brawl. Living in the same town from kindergarten through high school allowed David to make and keep many close friends for years, most of whom he was still in contact with weeks or even days before he passed. After high school, David attended Florida State University where he majored in Accounting, with minors in Economics and Finance.

Despite making high grades in challenging studies in school, David managed to have more than a little bit of fun in college. He and his good friend Jim Cook were members of Lambda Chi and were enthusiastic fans at Florida State Seminoles football games. David, Jim, Cash Ulmer, Holly Hilyard, Carin Duncan, Debra Lasley, Robert Scheuerle and Tom Tipton were in Tallahassee just before the Bowden Dynasty began and were part of the surging excitement for what Coach Bowden's staff could do. Later David would attend dinners where Coach Bowden visited various Booster groups and while the devoutly Southern Baptist Bowden may not have endorsed all of the escapades David and his buddies found themselves in related to Florida State football travel, Coach still had a twinkle in his eye hearing stories.

After graduation, David accepted a job for Arthur Andersen & Co. and quickly moved into a leadership role, helping launch a new division for small business consulting. David's skills at identifying the most critical business needs, dedication to delivery, and ability to develop relationships with clients soon made him truly a 'trusted business advisor' , one of the biggest goals Andersen had for their employees. Of course, Andersen also had other goals for their employees, such as professional appearance. Whether it was due to time constraints while meeting customer needs or a rebellious streak, David's hair got a little longer than preferred by the straight-laced Tampa office managing partners. One of them, Gerry DeGood, decided the best way to express this was by gifting David a set of pink spongey curlers at the office Christmas party.

David continued to develop those trusted business advisor skills when he and his future wife Debbie started their own consulting business. Bayshore Consulting Group, named for the tree lined street David and Debbie would rollerblade in the evenings, was the lead implementer in the billing system for a mobile telephone company that would eventually become T-Mobile. The little firm soon had a strong reputation of being able to pull together an agile consulting team, willing to be among the first implementer of new tools. One of David's fond memories was calling the professional services support team for a large ERP system to discuss an aspect of a relatively new module and the representative on the other end of the call said, "Oh, you guys are trying to implement THAT? Uh. Yeah. We've not seen anyone do it yet. Can you, uh, yeah, keep us in the loop as to how it goes?"

David and Debbie continued to support FSU football, traveling to many games, being Booster members, and sitting on the Booster's Inner Council for a number of years. Being active with Florida State gave David and Debbie the opportunity to join the Booster Cruises in the Mediterranean, along the Amalfi coast, and the Danube where they saw amazing scenery and also met wonderful friends. David loved travel and in addition to the cruises he visited Europe many times, including traveling to Normandy for an inspirational walk on the beaches with his dear friend Don Steiner. He and Debbie also took special trips around Christmastime to New York City to see Broadway shows and Fifth Avenue decorations and for a while had a tradition of 'once a quarter to the Quarter' where they enjoyed New Orleans food and fun. He learned to SCUBA so that he and Debbie could dive in Cancun. Cozumel and Cayman. David and Debbie joined her family on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate her aunt and uncle's 50th anniversary. He appreciated the stark beauty of the California desert and once treated Debbie to a heavenly show of stars a few miles away from town, uninterrupted by street lights. And even though not a skier, David took Debbie on enviable ski trips, visiting Whistler, Deer Valley, Tahoe, and Aspen.

Out of a desire to join Debbie and his friends on the slopes and hiking, and to eliminate the pain from a high school football injury, David decided to have knee replacement surgery in 2020. Sadly, he developed complications that eventually lead to his death. But even during the time he was in pain and limping, he encouraged other people not to use his experience as an excuse to delay surgery for themselves. He urged people to research thoroughly and reassured them that they'd find that the majority of cases were highly successful. David didn't want others to miss out on opportunities for adventure by being influenced by the rare set of circumstances that led to his problems.

David loved history and entertained his friends, and sometimes unwitting strangers in lines at the grocery store, about the development of human civilizations. He was fascinated by the Reformation and often credited it with sparking the spread of education to the masses. So fierce was his fascination with the Reformation, he once dressed for Halloween as Martin Luther, complete with his 95 Theses. When other party goers, dressed as Frankenstein or witches or lifeguards, asked what he was supposed to be, well, that gave David a platform to educate them about Luther. A win-win from some points of view. Mostly, David's point of view.

He was private in conducting his relationship with God, but David was deeply spiritual. One of his David's favorite recounted football-related events was when his good friend Tim Moss was able to secure tickets to hear then UGA Head Coach Mark Richt speak. Coach Richt's main topic was recalling the day that Coach Bowden helped guide him to a relationship with God. While not knowing David's last few months would indeed be his last few months, David and Tim had many discussions about God and about man's purpose here on Earth.

While we will miss David's infectious laugh, his intellect, and his devotion to his friends and family, we can take comfort that he is no longer in pain and discomfort. We can chuckle that David's physical remains will rest across from Debbie's grandparents, on the 'wrong side of the railroad tracks'. And we can be grateful that we have so many delightful memories of him and let those carry us through, until we see David again.