The following was written by David, before a very long list of medical problems took his life. Everyone who met him, loved him — especially his lucky wife and his wonderful family and friends. Now, God is the lucky one.
David Wilsey, of Kennewick, passed away Monday, April 20, 2020, at Kadlec Regional Medical Center. He was born Nov. 20, 1943, to John and Rachel Wilsey in Lewiston. John was overseas at the time, in World War II. It was almost a year before the notice of Dave’s birth caught up with him.
Dave graduated from Winchester High School in 1962, which was the last graduating class before they consolidated with Craigmont. He graduated from the University of Idaho in 1967 with a degree in mechanical engineering.
Dave married Joanne C. Adams in 1966 at Grace Lutheran Church in Lewiston. This was the end of a courtship that started at her birthday party when they were in first grade. (Note: He wore a white shirt and could already count to 100!)
Dave went to work for Bechtel Corp. in San Francisco upon graduation. He worked for them for the next 43 years, on engineering and construction projects around the world.
Dave is survived by his wife, Joanne; sisters Barbara Flores and Selma Pentzer (Ed); five nephews; one niece; one great-nephew; one great-niece; and one aunt, Norma Clausen.
David is being cremated and a graveside service will be held at Golden Ridge Cemetery on Winchester Road, when his wife is ready to join him. Neither one of us want a viewing or funeral. So, don’t pay to make us pretty — it is a lost cause at this point. Get us cremated wherever we happen to be when we die. Send ashes to Selma Pentzer.
Once we are cremated, we want to be placed in the same urn and buried in the same grave. We will go easy on our chief grave digger, Willis (it won’t take much of a hole). We will buy the urn and headstone and Selma will give them to the chief headstone setter for Golden Ridge, Ed. He will be stuck with setting it.
Once Joanne and I are together in our urn, you could have a graveside service, with cousins Craig or Tammy officiating, if they are available. Or, you can skip the service and just stick us in the hole. It won’t matter to us how you do it. Flowers are not required. Golden Ridge will provide plenty.
Thoughtful memories from friends:
Dave used his engineering talents to build “Popcorn,” a 32-foot, 10-ton sailboat. His plan was to sail to Hawaii one day. Dave was “the” master fix-it man for the neighbors and friends. He could make anything run from chain saws to tractors and everything in between.
— Tom Logan
Dave was a man who wore many hats: cowboy, rancher, sailor, hunter. He loved being outdoors, working on the Wilsey family Idaho ranch — planting and harvesting hay, feeding and herding cattle, working on the fence lines, clearing the roads of the mountains of snow. He was an avid outdoorsman who was always busy doing something. In the early days of his career he would jog to work from San Bruno to San Francisco — about 15 miles. He had a huge heart and was well respected by his colleagues and management. Fly with the angels, Dave.
— Scott and Debi Johnson
A word about Dave: well you will have friends in this life and if you are really blessed you will have a David, who would do anything and everything for you even when his health said he shouldn’t. We had a lot of good times working on our boats. OK, so we stopped and had a barbecue now and then and may have told a few stories. Thanks for helping my son, Tim, and I take my boat down the river. It was great for you too, getting to spend a few days on a faster boat. Thank you, Dave, till we meet again in heaven! Love and miss you.
— Allen Jones “Santa”
Words from Joanne:
Do you see what wonderful friends David and I have? And it’s not just those friends. Everyone for blocks around has been coming up our driveway with rocks painted with “John Deere” tractors and with delicious banana bread. Our flower deliveries are keeping a whole flower shop afloat, while the coronavirus pandemic is keeping everything locked down.
You need to know that I’m a really good “dinosaur.” So, although David does have a computer and email address, I have no idea how to turn it on. Therefore, I’m not receiving your emails. But, thank you, if you’re sending them.
There is no way this obituary could have been done without our very loving, next-door neighbor, Krista Ybarra, doing all her “computer savvy” stuff. She placed every word of David’s, mine and our friends on this page. She and her boyfriend, Paul, kept our very long driveway plowed clear, when we had 2-foot snow drifts and I had to get David over to Kadlec Hospital.
David’s declining health was making his sailboat plans for going around the world look less and less likely. Boredom could have killed his spirit long before he actually died. With Krista’s interesting, new projects and her stepdad’s backhoe, he had a lot more fun. She even brought a young, untrained horse into his life, so that he could complain about how slowly she was training it.
But, now that the next awful medical thing — dialysis — was coming and it was going to be something he’d despise, it was time for his huge heart to overcome his pacemaker. Thank God, God thought that it was time for David to come home. All the rest of us can try to do is remember him with love, ignore the rain and look for the rainbow.
To sign the online guest book visit Hillcrestfunerals.com.
