David was born on October 24, 1951 in Indian Head, SK and lived out on the farm North of Wide O Wake School overlooking Lake Katepwa. He was the youngest member of the family with an older brother (Clint) and 4 older sisters (Annette, Delores, Evelyne and Clarretta).
From an early age he had curious mind on the inner working of things and loved to take anything mechanic apart to understand how they worked. This eventually led to him into trouble when he took apart his mom’s iron and dad’s tractor apart but was unable to put them back together. Over the years his knowledge had grown and was able to take things apart, understand their functions and eventually put things back together usually without the aid of instructions or a manual.
The family eventually sold the farm and moved into Indian Head where he continued school. He eventually started working at the Indian Head Esso as a mechanic and tow truck driver. During his time at the Esso he had created some great memories and even landed him in the Indian Head paper when he managed to buckle the tow truck while trying to pull out an over loaded grain truck from the ditch.
Later on he had furthered his education by completing a heavy duty mechanic school in Moose Jaw. At the same time his interest in electronics started to show and he eventually took an ICS Course and ended up building the families first colour TV, which was used for many years. His hunger for knowledge never stopped which led him taking a refrigerant course that helped create a side line business “Stoker’s Refrigeration” that he kept up until he physically was unable to.
With all the knowledge collected over the years he had saved many people costly air-conditioning bills by fixing tractors, combines, trucks, etc. while most companies only wanted to replace units with brand new systems. He serviced the surrounding communities and was always willing to take a look at old equipment and tried his best not to charge huge service call prices and kept his labour relatively low.
David married Colleen and together they had two boys (John and Steven). He spent lots of time taking them to the mountains the US and various other parts of Canada camping and touring. As the kids became older he put together a mini bike and developed 3 different generations of Go-karts for the summer months. During the winter he involved the kids in repairing and maintaining the snowmobiles.
John was more on the mechanical side and eventually started cattle farming. With the mechanical trait, it led them getting evolved into building race cars and later on fixing farm equipment. During the retirement years David enjoyed helping out on the farm by bailing and hauling cows to market for John. John married Carla and they have two kids (Mila and Keiara). Dave enjoyed spending time with his oldest granddaughter biking to the store for ice cream and taking her to local events. It is too bad that he passed before he could enjoy taking Keiara to do the same things.
Steven took more of the electronic path which landed him in the oil field servicing sector which has taken him all over the world. He enjoyed talking to people about where is son was working especially when mentioning countries like Iraq, Ethiopia and many others.
A funeral mass for David will be celebrated in St. Joseph's R.C. Church, Indian Head, Saskatchewan on Saturday, July 31, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. by Rev. Francis Hengen.
