David Alan Buaas

“I don’t wanna cause no trouble, but…” and then the caring, loving advice and assistance followed. This is what he did, throughout his life to the delight, wonder, amazement and love of all that he touched. Dave Buaas was a Friend. “A Friend” is a huge concept… and Dave was the Master. He started making “Friends” when born, June 5, 1945, in Palo Alto, California. He was the middle child of Captain Marion Hugo Buaas USN retd and Mrs. Mary Alice Emery Buaas. Marion was a Graduate of the Naval Academy and a career Navy Officer. Mary Alice, a history and music teacher, was the consummate “officer’s wife”. Dave’s first “Friend” was his late older brother Robert (Bob) Buaas, and together they started “Engineering” things. Go-karts, scooters, model boats, model planes, even a Mercury powered Model A Roadster with a 2-speed rear-end. Whatever it was, Dave would make it go faster. If electrical, he made it louder, lighter, brighter or safer. He loved pranks and jokes, and his probable first victim was his younger sister Elizabeth (Tina) Buaas.

Dave, a “Navy Brat”, his mother and siblings were dragged from Palo Alto to Nebraska, Long Beach, and then Point Loma. His Father, “The Captain”, was always the “Base Commander”. Dave and Bob were always well known by the Special Services Hobby Shop Supervisor and Master at Arms, Navy Military Police (MP) to civilians. Together they made countless “Top Secret” and “Need to Know Basis” projects in the shop… and tested their privileged “The Captain’s Kid” status. Nothing was ever successfully blown up, but Dave did receive multiple awards: five moving violations on a go-kart before his first driver’s license!

Dave was very intelligent, a fact he hid well from teachers through his second or third year of college. He grew into a tall, broad, handsome dark-haired “bad boy”. The “bad boy” was the image he wanted, strived for, yet never achieved. In September 1963, he suddenly remembered high school was over, and he had forgotten to think about college. San Diego Mesa Junior College was the easy, inexpensive, GPA-ignoring time filler. Today, 61 years later, there are several close “Friends” surviving from those very first days of college. Not one of these lifelong friends has a real criminal record, and only a few have permanent scars. None were killed. A fact not commonly known is that Dave excelled in “sports” while at Mesa College. He created “Towing a skateboarder behind your motorcycle” … he won “Shortest stop from the highest speed” in the college parking lot. He reigned champ at “Dirt Bike Scrambling while skipping class” and then received accolades for going back to class with the ass ripped out of his pants. It was shortly after this that Dave gave up long pants for life.

He started Mesa College driving a 1946 Ford, into which he had installed a 61 Corvette engine. His first science project was seen by most of the college. “Reducing the Coefficient of Drag by Oiling your Tires” is still regarded as the absolute best example of “Exhibition of Speed” anyone present had ever seen. He graduated to a 1958 Corvette…and, of course, made it better by installing a new 327 cubic inch engine. With this new vehicle, he proved the theorem “Your Father’s Cadillac tires are much better for extreme Exhibitions of Speed” - well at least it’s cheaper than burning up your own tires. Dave never ever wasted money, and in these formative years he began honing the skill of “Buying Low and Selling High”.

Throughout his life, Dave shared. He was a natural teacher. A lifelong friend, who he met on their very first day of college, vividly recalls “being taught to high-speed water ski in five inches of water, all the while successfully negotiating pier pilings”. In the third year of a two-year degree, he decided to let his intelligence be known by his professors by excelling, boosting his grade point and transferring to San Diego State, taking his friends with him.

The born Engineer, Dave joined the San Diego State School of Engineering and worked his way through college at the Texaco gas station in Pt. Loma. Everyone around Dave had fun; he made sure of that. At San Diego State while having fun, sharing advice, and continuing to make new “Friends”, Dave never abandoned any earlier friends. He was a seriously focused student, and graduated with his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

In ‘68 and ‘69, Vietnam was booming, so he wisely joined the Navy Reserves while still in college. Upon graduation, he went on active-duty and was assigned as a Gunner’s Mate on the USS Mount Katmai AE16, a 459 foot long WWII munitions ship. Like all “Navy Brats”, Dave knew the system. While berthed at Port Chicago in the Bay Area he borrowed a pick-up from his retired father, “The Captain”, in San Diego, to use until he shipped out. Of course, everywhere he and new Navy friends went, the “Captain’s Sticker” on the bumper got them treated like royalty. Late one night, returning to base, a diligent US Marine gate guard took a better look at the young people in the truck. Dave renewed his “friendship” with the Master at Arms … remember … MP’s. Holding a “BS” degree and fast talk saved the day. While a Gunner’s Mate involved operating, maintaining, and training others on weapons systems and ordnance equipment, he had spare time aboard ship, so Dave formed a Band and with the encouragement of the Commanding Officer; it became the “Ship’s Band”. Off the coast of Vietnam while transferring munitions, the band sat up on deck, and entertained the entire ship, as well as the other ships and crews that they were re-arming. He owned and played instruments for his entire life; trumpet early on, then bass guitar for the Navy ship band, and that was just the start. His training and experience in the Navy fueled a lifelong love and respect for weaponry. Dave, often accused of confusing “Tact” with “Carpet Nails”, actually excelled at defusing situations. On the ship, understandably enraged at someone always stealing his “Shower Shoes”, typical to Dave, he defused it by buying everyone in his division new “Shower Shoes”.

Home from the Navy, Dave started his professional career at American Pollution Control. He entered grad school, graduating from the Air Pollution Control Institute at USC. Like most Vietnam Veterans, Dave, the Engineer first and foremost, left the service with some stereo equipment. Altec Lansing A7 “Voice of the Theatre” speakers, Dual 1219 with Shure V15 Type II (Improved) Turntable and Stylus, 300 Watts RMS per channel…very few ever actually knew that the character, Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor, was patterned after Dave. To the great early dismay of neighbors, Dave and buddies rented a house in Point Loma, set up the stereo, started another band, started perfecting the Margarita recipe, bought and built fast cars, fast ski boats, fast motorcycles, and dreamed of fast women. Demonstrating again his ability to defuse situations, life-of-the-party Dave invited every dismayed neighbor for blocks around to every party, and started honing life-of-the-neighborhood Dave.

Dave and brother Bob, early communication legends, armed with HAM Licenses, and engineer friends started the “NERD-NET”. Their first chore: place their primary repeater somewhere really high. Engineer Dave, knowing the 117-foot communication tower on San Miguel Mountain was not built to climb, demonstrated weight load knowledge, problem solving skills, leadership and motivational skills by prepping his “lightest” nerd/engineer/Friend with liquor, and sending him quaking up the tower. This and several other classified repeater locations made possible their “Car Phones” in the early 1970’s. Dave began his lifelong search for vacation adventure, motivating the same “lightest” Friend, an Eagle Scout, armed with Merit Badge and compass, to navigate their 172-mile, open sea, round-trip to Catalina Island on a 16-foot Hobie Cat.

In 1972, Dave began describing to all his friends “this really great gal” he had met. The friends all agreed, Pamela Dawn Walker, was indeed a “really great gal”, and a beautiful younger lady that soon became Dave’s best friend. Gaining knowledge and professional skills, he advanced to ”University Mechanical Contracting”, then “Aerco Systems, Heating and Air Conditioning”.

On the 13th of September 1975, a day almost as gorgeous and hot as the bride, at the Rancho Santa Fe Inn, Dave officially “Robbed the Cradle”, “Raised the Bar” on great parties, and started married life. Dave and Pam bought a home in Clairemont. He started training his new neighbors and fixing things. He installed a hot tub, solar still, perfected the recipe for “Mother Bear”, bought and re-built a used kegerator, drug home an old “Slurpee Machine” and created his 1st Generation “Margarita Machine”. Meanwhile Pam, the perfect love and wife for Dave, introduced him to her friends from work, “The PSA Girls” (Pam says PSA Family). She learned to appreciate the necessary tools & toys he acquired, managed the chaos, provided the health insurance benefits, and hopped on the never-boring, always-fun and fun-loving rollercoaster known as “Life with Dave”. Events, dates, and details during this period are cloudy, due to loss of evidence, redaction, and failed brain cells. They traveled all over the world, skied all over the world, flew with “Friends”, of course, to San Francisco just for dinner. Dave taught all the neighbors what it meant to be part of a Neighborhood, how to be a “Friend”, and what a “Block Party” should look like. The neighborhood saying became “Ask Dave”- he knew about and could fix anything. Together in the late 1970’s, Dave and Pam even built a spec “Energy Efficient Home” in Borrego Springs, something nobody at the time even imagined, except Dave.

Always the outstanding employee and team player, Dave the leader, knew that owning his own business had always been his goal. He had the world by the tail and risked it all to make it better. He quit his job and formed “Buaas and Associates”. Building on his vast heating and air conditioning experience he grew this start-up into a regional leader in ultra low-temp commercial freezer repair and cold/warm room design and installation.

On the 18th of October, 1982, Pam took the “loving Husband” and started him down the path of “loving Father”. Thomas David Buaas was born. Father Dave, learning as he went, drawing on his childhood experiences, with Pam’s direction and feedback, mastered infant and toddler parenting. On the 11th of May 1986, Jaclyn Dawn Buaas was born. Tom was “Mello”, Jackie, “anything but”. Dave entered “Parenting Grad School”, never graduating, always perfecting his craft.

Music, a lifelong passion for Dave, meant mandatory music lessons and practice for the kids. He set the example with Electric Keyboard, Harmonica, and Acoustic Guitar. With more new friends he started another band, “The Wannabes”. The block parties got larger, louder, and better. Possibly the ultimate irony of his life, his military service he prided so much, brought a lifetime of severe hearing loss. He never complained. In his mind’s ear, he could hear clear as a bell “The Eagles", “Garth Brooks”, and “Blood Sweat and Tears”. He was Lee Greenwood’s “Proud American”. In his mind’s eye, he was back on the deck of the USS Mount Katmai drowning out the sounds of war with his bass solo from Grand Funk Railroad’s “I’m Your Captain” or the CCR anthem, “Proud Mary”. He instilled in both his children the love of music and the love of life. Their happy childhoods were filled with educational experiences and projects with Dad. Jackie, at a dance recital, could never miss her Dad with the biggest smile in the room. Tom could invite a buddy into his “fort” that he and Dad built together… the “Fort” with carpeting Solar Power and a TV. Driving into the Silver Strand State Beach, you couldn’t miss the Motorhome with Jackie’s pink and lavender bicycle hanging on it and Dave, with Tom setting up the model train. They cherished formative moments such as, at Lake Powell, witnessing their father (and a friend of course) introducing “Skinny Dipping” and “Mooning” to the locals.

His lifelong love of getting a deal, his frugal and cautious nature, his vast mechanical and professional experience all ensured that he never came out on the wrong side of any deal. Dave was faster to “Free on Craigslist” than any gunslinger in history. He would get something broken, free, then fix it and give it to his kids, neighbor or a friend. This led to Jackie making him his favorite T-Shirt, “Mr. Craigslist”. If you wanted to know how Dave felt about any subject, read his T-Shirt. He loved the ones with controversial statements, and never wanting to cause any trouble, always wore the appropriate one.

There are so many other things Dave loved: Go-karts, model boats, trains and planes, motorcycles, fast cars, antique outboard motors, drones, bacon, a good story, steam engines, kites, cameras, extra sauce, motorhomes, travel, camping, cruises, Mexican food, cooking, solar energy, Lake Powell, the Cayman Islands, hot carrots, projects of any kind, Margaritas, extra dressing (actually food of any kind), and more than anything else, being a Husband, Father, Grandfather and Friend. He didn’t like…long pants!

His children grew-up, married, bought homes, started families, and Dave made more “Friends”. Soon, in now three neighborhoods, “Ask Dave” was the mantra. The strict disciplinarian father Dave gave way to easy push-over Grandfather Dave. Retirement gave Dave the time to really pursue his love of “I don’t wanna cause no trouble, but…”. He began by teaching Pam how to cook… “Surviving” that, he moved on to “Super Projects” with his kids and grandkids.

Jackie, “the Teacher”, just like her dad, seeded one of their most recent super projects, the “Musical Holiday Lights”. She had the idea, did tons of research, and with the help of Dave and brother Tom, within three months, had built her own prototype musical light system. This ignited a passion in both Dave and Tom and they both were hooked as well. Dave provided decades of invaluable mechanical and electrical experience to both his children on this new hobby they equally shared. Dave and his children spent countless hours together installing, configuring, wiring, programming and troubleshooting these crazy Christmas lights. The love flowed and the super project brought pure joy. Soon, not just Jackie’s, but Dave and Tom’s homes, even Dave’s motorhome, sang, rocked, flashed and streamed, Christmas music, Valentine’s, patriotic 4th of July, Halloween, Birthday and seasonal year-round joy.

Tom “the Engineer”, just like his dad, helped bring the next Super Project idea to life. A robotic Zen Garden coffee table, where a steel ball is moved by a magnet around a “sand” table to make intricate patterns, actuated by a “Core XY” computer controlled motion system. Using the 3d printer he built with his dad, Tom printed most parts and they bought the rest. Dave provided the mechanical expertise to help finish the product into a functional enhancement to his existing glass topped coffee table. As typical with Dave, he envisioned it bigger and better and promptly drafted some designs for a larger robotic Zen Garden for Tom’s house.

Dave loved a project. His own, such as maintaining the Motorhome, or others, like the Super Projects with the kids, everything for his grandchildren, anything for a friend, and throughout his life with Pam the project of giving, loving, teaching, fixing and helping.

His legacy: his wife Pamela Buaas, his son Thomas Buaas and his wife Jenica, his daughter, Jaclyn Brown and her husband Shane Brown, his grandchildren, Owen Buaas, Aubrey Buaas, Serena Buaas, Emma Brown, and Kenley Brown. He is also survived by his sister Elizabeth Martin, her son James Martin and his wife Irina Martin, his sister-in-law Sharon Buaas, and nephews William Buaas and Brian Buaas. So many friends.

To all of us, with a huge grin, Dave would say “I didn’t wanna cause no trouble, but…”

Life and Your Tool Chest

A simple approach by Dave Buaas

We all are put on this earth to do a job. We all have the same job. The job is called life. The main goal is happiness. To do the job, it’s always more effective if you have the right tools. If you are persistent, you can get the job done even without the right tools, but it is more difficult. When we take our first breath, our tool chest seems pretty empty. There are tools in there but we need a lot of help, just to survive. In each of our chests are a set of encoded instructions (DNA) that will determine many things in our lives. It has already guided your growth to be a male or female, the color of your hair and eyes, to mention a few. In an ideal world, all people would be created equal but that is not how it really is. Some are born with greater intelligence or special talents in their tool chests. Whether they choose to use those tools is by their choice. Even with a small tool chest a person can prosper and be happy. The basic rule about tool chests is that you can only add tools to your chest with education or experience. In your early years, the most important people in your life are your parents. If you are lucky, you are born in the USA and have two good, loving and caring parents, a mother and a father. They will do the most to help you fill your tool chest with what I call the essentials: Right from wrong, truth vs lying, good from bad and things you need to get along in society. Some less fortunate people have no known parents, or worse yet, a parent or parents that don’t care. This will make their lives more challenging. Somewhere around the age of 11 or 12, your parent’s roles will start changing from ruling dictators to consultants. This is because they have filled your tool chest the best they can and you will start taking control of your own destiny. Some parents may not even recognize their role has changed. Good and bad decisions you make will affect your life’s path. There will be many temptations that can kill you or ruin your life, like drugs and alcohol. Make good decisions. Your parents (consultants) have accumulated quite a tool chest of their own, though you may not appreciate that fact until later in your life. Experience will teach you that most people may look very different but they are basically the same. Every race, ethnic background, or religious conviction has good and bad people. There are smart and stupid people, hard workers and lazy people. It is wrong to assume that all of a group is the same as a few you have had contact with. As you gain years, you may find it would be nice to have a partner to share your life with. This is partly because a joy shared is doubled and a sorrow shared is halved. In your younger years, you may not have all the tools you need to choose a lifetime partner. It’s a rather tricky business. With more age and experience you will have more and better tools. My sixth grade teacher said if you could get through the stage where you fall in love with love itself, without getting married, you would be fine. There also may come a time where you may want to have children of your own. Most new parents find their chest needs some new tools to help with their baby. If you have a second child, it is usually less stressful because you have the tools. I can tell you by experience, you are never too old to add tools to your chest. There will be very happy times in your life and there will be very sad times. Your faith, friends and the people who love you will get you through the sad ones.