David, our beloved son, was a child with many talents and a great imagination. In his spare time, he enjoyed anime, writing comics, and drawing. He also enjoyed a varity of sports, including snowboarding, kendo, karate, baseball, basketball, and NASCAR. He did these activites despite a bad heart and a pacemaker that he had implanted at age two.

He has a handful of close friends to which he was very loyal. They were diverse and had cultural variety. David had a fascination with the Samurai Era of Japan and had traveled there in 2001 to see Japan first hand. He viewed himself not as a battle warrior, but more of a protective warrior whose role it was to protect those that could not protect themselves.

David was a determined, yet cautious child. This showed throughout his life and included his approach to driving. He was not in a hurry to drive, but yet determined to drive when he was ready and could do it in his own time and space. We praticed many times in parking lots and neighborhood road. We even practiced with a couple of his friends. He was easy to back off of driving for a while if criticized or "instructed" too much. He eventually got his license and ventured out of his own, mostly staying close to home and running his friends around. It was a coiple of weeks before school was to begin and he and a few select freinds had planned an outing to White Water.

As parents we were excited, yet nervous, about his trip across town. We had counseled him about bring careful, not having too many in the car as it would be a distraction, paying attention to the road and not the radio, etc. We also wished him to have a wonderful time with his friends. He was not to make it to White Water. He had picked up one friend and gone to meet another friend who was also going to drive. They left the other friend's house to pick up another person. The other friend's car was first and David was following. They were not very far when the fatal left hand turn was made. A driver coming over the hill didn't have enough time to react and avoid hittting David in the driver's side. He took the full impact of the collision. Fortunately, David's passenger survived with a concussion. The driver of the other car survived with minor injuries. Between the bad layout of the intersection and the desire to keep up with the car he was following, the mistake was made. There was no drinking, no speeding, no reckless driving, or horsing around.

Our lives are forever changes and we look forward to the time when our spirits reunite. David was a gift from GOD that we were allowed to have in our lives for 17 1/2 years. He will forever remain alive in the hears and memories of those that knew him.