I thought it would be nice to have a spot for us to share our memories of Dave, just like we did with Kirk, and we can get them passed along to his family.
There are a few things I distinctly remember about Dave. The first is his voice. It was deep and lovely and unexpected.
Secondly, I'll miss his optimism. I don't think I've ever met such a kind and positive man. I always wished some of that would rub off on me.
I know that as the hunt comes around next year, his passing will really sink in. He was such a dependable presence.
I can't make the funeral. I'm out of town for a family thing. For those of you going, please include my positive thoughts in your thoughts and wishes to his family.
I'll post this here, because it's kind of funny, and it's tangential to what Brad is doing today.
About 15 years ago, my great Uncle Karl died, he wrapped his car around a tree and was in intensive care for five days. He was a great big hulk of a man, and they had him creamated. My great Aunt Mary, being somewhat of a cheap old bag, took the bus with my grandmother (they were both 80 at the time) down to downtown Minneapolis to get a vase to put Karl's ashes in, because it was just too exspensive to get an urn from the funeral home.
They picked out a very nice vase, took the bus home, and got Karl, and poured him into the box. But because there was more Karl than vase, they ran out of room!
They poured Karl back in the box, washed out the vase, took the bus back down to Dayton's, and got their money back.
My big family joke: That somewhere, in a vase, somewhere in the world, there's still a little bit of Karl.
Stay strong, everyone, The vase is always overflowing with Karl, even while the box seems to be half-empty of Karl.
Comments posted at the SPPP, in response to Santa Dave's obituary tribute, included one from Dave's sister Martha, to his friends. You can view the comment page at:
A lady I work with's husband's Dad passed away 20 years ago. He wasn't close with any of his 3 kids, and it just sorta came as luck of the draw that this one son ended up with the ashes.
Dad lived in the closet at their house for about 15 years, they didn't really know what to do with them. Then 5 summers ago the couple were going to go see Her mother who lives on this georgeous hill in rural PA.
They packed Dad's ashes on the plane with them, and went back and during thier visit planned to spread the ashes.
Well the Husband got very ill the second night they were in town, and was admitted to the hospital for their entire stay. When they flew home, the decided to leave Dad there, with her Mom, cause they had planned to return later that year to visit. Well he hasn't been back since (perhaps afraid the mom's cooking might land him in the hospital again or something)
So about a year ago, I'm down at this ladies desk, and her Mother calls. She is having Tea with her friends and is telling them that she has a Man residing in her guest bedroom closet, and he's been there for the past 5 years, but she's never thought until this moment to call and ask his name.
Vino - I too thought a bench would be nice...we could all go sit in Santa's lap that way... :sillygrin:
but the price of those for St. Paul parks is outrageous! : :angry:
I have 21 pages of memories and am now caught up again. I also grabbed all the comments from the paper. In a way, I'm glad I don't have to have this all in good shape for tomorrow...there's a week to get it finalized.
I will need to work on a cover page and further tidy things up a bit, but it certainly shows how much people loved him.
Re-reading all this as I was fixing formatting and font sizes, created a whole circle of emotions, Sometimes you have to laugh. Sometimes you want to cry.
I just looked, they are 2k. wow. Hmmm - well we could do a fundraiser for one. That would be possible.
You know what they have (although it can't really be enjoyed by the local crew...) in Liberal Kansas, there is a museum with a replica of the house from wizard of oz. the bricks like the one for CM are engraved as a memorial in the yellow brick road. Its pretty cool.
I actually have a brick - and I'm not even dead yet. :smile:
My favorite Santa Dave memory happened the night he died. Amy & Dave know what I'm talking about. Thank you so much for that Dave. It meant more than anything to me.
I'm not physically around as much as a lot of you during the hunt. I've pretty much only said hello to Santa Dave at the couple of pre-digs I went to.
I talked to him more at Amy's memorial service than I ever had before. He pulled in right in front of me at the funeral home and I smiled when I saw him. We visited for a while in the room with the food. That's where he told me the story about his father being a lumber jack. And it turned out he was a friend of one of my relatives in Princeton. The last thing he said to me was, "See you in January".
Oh, I forgot that we had talked about his being a stand up comedian once. My oldest son has a good friend who used to perform in the Twin Cities too and Dave knew him and knew where he had moved to and said to greet him when I saw him. He told me that my son's friend was a strange duck. lol He is that! I forwarded the link to the article in yesterday's paper to my son to send to Harmon.
Dave (and everyone) thank you for sharing your memories. I just starting meeting everyone on the crew this past year and was sadden to hear the news of so many losses. Reading these stories sheds more light on what an awesome group the cooler crew truly is. My heart and prayers are with everyone!
I have to get some work done on my tahoe this weekend!!!! if I get it all done I can take a few down with me in there! its a gas hug but I know all the places to stop for cheep gas! sence I drive this route 5 nights a week!!:frown: but I am more then happy to pick people up after I get back from work!!!!!!!!! and we can run down as a crew!!!!!!!!!
ok so I was trying to clean out the paper box!!! I guess and got yelled at for buying all the papers! the lady that yelled at me gose and buys ten! and dosnt leve anyin there!!!!! whats with that but I got 6 for who ever wants one!!!!! ok acutely I got 4 terry and eags get one of the six!!
I've struggled for days with finding the words to describe my thoughts and feelings on all this. The thing that keeps coming to mind is not being sad, but celebrating the lives of those who have passed on. I hesitate to say the ones we have lost, for we have not lost them at all. They've just gone ahead of us, waiting for us to rejoin them. We will never lose them because they will always be in our hearts and in our memories.
I hope that when I pass on, that I can be so fondly remembered, that I can make such an impact in people's lives. I don't think we realized initially the impact that Dave had on us. He seemed to live up to his name of Santa, not just in look but in that magical spirit he had. He didn't have to say much, if anything, to bring you happiness and cheer. There was this hint of magic in his voice, in his smile, in his walk.... in his being.
As I think about it, there's lots of lore surrounding the Winter Carnival and the treasure hunt. It's more of a realization to me that it's not about the winners, but about the people you meet along the way, the characters you encounter. I hope that I can take my kids out hunting for a long time to come. I hope that I can tell them the stories about the Cooler Crew, about people like Dave Young. I hope that they can meet my friends and know them. I want them to enjoy the fun of the treasure hunt, and the people who share the same passion and love of it.
Hunting brings us together, but the friendships and the bonds we make during those few weeks is what keeps us together throughout the year and beyond. We will never forget Dave. Santa never dies, because he's always in our hearts.
Driving to work this morning, there appeared a bright rainbow peaking out from behind a cloud at the top and appeared to arc to the fairgrounds - one of DDY's favorite places.
Kitch - you are brilliant! Of course we could easily raise that during the hunt!
I am so glad you thought of that. I was thinking in the more immediate time frame, but by bringing in all the hunters who knew him or of him, that would give everyone a chance to participate and feel part of the memorial.
I loved the drawing that the kids did the night Santa Dave died.
And the posts about some of the things the kids have said.
I wonder if they wouldn't all love a kids' get-together. Its amazing what they "work out" when they are together with other kids who also knew the person who has just died.
Maybe even have some paper and crayons handy in case any of them want to make a card or write a letter to Santa Dave.
Nothing real structured, just some time together, some treats.
My great-niece thought that she and I were the only ones who were *really* sad when my husband, her uncle, died. Because no one was talking about him when she was around. But *she* was talking about him, and it was obvious how sad *I* was. It was really sweet - our bonds were strengthened for our shared grief - yet sad that she felt so alone with her grief. I know there are parts of our grief that are so personal that we MUST make that part of the journey alone, but for what we are able to share, it is also part of the healing. And those who are able to listen and hear and understand are blessings to us.
Just my rambling thoughts this morning...this mourning...
I had thoughts about that, something for the cooler kids. We did have a picnic at one time in Como Park. I did a mock hunt for them, where they all got a prize for finding their treasure. I was considering doing that again.
I still havnt been able to bring myself to read this thread yet... I talked with my mom on the phone and she was so sad... she was just thinking of Dave and wondering how he was doing. She reminded me that Dave came down to my birthday and my sisters birthday last year and how he got up and sang koroake --- we have pics somewhere - He was this quiet supporter, behind the scenes carer - I HATE THIS! I can't get it out of my mind and I cried so hard in the shower today. ....
I also keep calling his cell phone to listen to his wonderful voice. I don't want him to fall off my top 20 call list on my phone. :frown:
I wish I could call and listen to Aimes cell too. :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown: -
I went to Sarahs choir concert last night and I cried through the whole thing. The songs they sang were just right for everything going on with our losses this last week. :frown:
I was doing that too.... going through our voice-mail here on the home phone...
theres all kinds of greetings, and name lists that you can record things on.... my dad used to have a field day with those things... leaving little stupid poems, or his nicknames on there...
 - he liked to call himself "Joe Cool", or "Doctor Kid"....
even gave himself an honorary PHD.... we get stuff in the mail, that comes addressed to Mark Goedert PHD....:eyeroll:
Um.. Ok... so REALLY BIG NEWS... (at least I think)
I contacted Scott Hansen (the comedian that left the message in the PP board) to talk to him about doing a fundraiser for a bench for Santa Dave. He was very thankful that I knew the info about when/where the services were (thanks Terry for posting!) I told him about the bench, and he loved it and said he needed to make a few calls...
He just called me back, and he is totally on board, and he phoned Louie Anderson, and about 20 other comedians who all loved Dave. They are all willing to pitch together to put on a show at the Minnesota Comedy Club (Scotts bro owns the club) plus they have a banquet room, and are willing to donate items for a silent auction!!
Scott seems to think that we would be able to raise more money than just that for one bench - perhaps a bench in several different parks? or a larger memorial - or maybe we could convince the parks & rec to let us place a 'santa chair' in one of the parks?? we need to think about it, and have an actual goal outlined.
Scott is going to try to make Dave's funeral next friday (and was going to call the rest of the fellows to see if they could come too) I told him I would touch base with him the following week after the funeral, to try to get things started,
But being as I am out here...I'm gonna need some CC support there to get this thing off and running, cause as easy as it is to call people over the phone and such - it's a little hard if I'm not actually 'there' the day of.
He also said that he could get caterer's to donate food too - so we could do a dinner/show thing.
If I work this right - we get the location donated, the entertainment donated & the food donated - the entire ticket price could go to Santa Dave's fund.
Thats not even including a silent auction part.
We could totally do a really nice memorial, and raise all the funds in 1 night - while having a great time.
yeah. well, I'm pretty freakin excited. I love making a difference in someones life. This is the stuff I live for.
You could hear the regret in Scotts voice that he didn't call Dave to tell him about the show. He's truely sorry he missed seeing him one last time. I felt like I needed to reach through the phone and hug him or something.
Terry - do you think we could work with the City to let us put up maybe a big stone chair instead of a bench? I don't have Park contacts there, do you know anyone who we could talk to?
I think we would need to have a park, and a more concrete idea of what we want for promoting the event.
Depending on when I can get this to take place, I'm gonna try to fly back for it. I'd love to be there, and offer my in person support.
That's exactly what I told Scott - that it was the perfect fundraiser.
he agreed, and loved that the $ was going to fund something related to another one of his passions (being in a park)
It really energized me, to hear how excited he was to help put this on, and the ideas that he was flinging out a mile a minute at me to make this event really sore. I love seeing someone with such passion for something who can make a difference really get behind a project, and that is what we have here.
I think the place to contact would be through the memorial site place within the parks website. I don't know anyone anymore that has any influence in those sort of things.
As far as selecting a park, I would think Como for a couple reasons. First...It is the gem of parks in the Twin Cities. Second...It's within a few blocks of the Great Minnesota Get Together than he dearly loved.
I was set to head out in the morning...a full week early. Must be someone - maybe a munchkin - who can't get there before then.
Benson Funeral Home
1325 Fourth Avenue
Worthington, MN 56187
Phone Number: (507) 376-4477
Secondly, I'll miss his optimism. I don't think I've ever met such a kind and positive man. I always wished some of that would rub off on me.
I know that as the hunt comes around next year, his passing will really sink in. He was such a dependable presence.
I can't make the funeral. I'm out of town for a family thing. For those of you going, please include my positive thoughts in your thoughts and wishes to his family.
Is anyone willing to print off some of the pictures? My printer just doesn't do a nice job with those.
About 15 years ago, my great Uncle Karl died, he wrapped his car around a tree and was in intensive care for five days. He was a great big hulk of a man, and they had him creamated. My great Aunt Mary, being somewhat of a cheap old bag, took the bus with my grandmother (they were both 80 at the time) down to downtown Minneapolis to get a vase to put Karl's ashes in, because it was just too exspensive to get an urn from the funeral home.
They picked out a very nice vase, took the bus home, and got Karl, and poured him into the box. But because there was more Karl than vase, they ran out of room!
They poured Karl back in the box, washed out the vase, took the bus back down to Dayton's, and got their money back.
My big family joke: That somewhere, in a vase, somewhere in the world, there's still a little bit of Karl.
Stay strong, everyone, The vase is always overflowing with Karl, even while the box seems to be half-empty of Karl.
http://pod01.prospero.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?msg=3323&nav=messages&webtag=kr-twincitiestm
Just FYI.
A lady I work with's husband's Dad passed away 20 years ago. He wasn't close with any of his 3 kids, and it just sorta came as luck of the draw that this one son ended up with the ashes.
Dad lived in the closet at their house for about 15 years, they didn't really know what to do with them. Then 5 summers ago the couple were going to go see Her mother who lives on this georgeous hill in rural PA.
They packed Dad's ashes on the plane with them, and went back and during thier visit planned to spread the ashes.
Well the Husband got very ill the second night they were in town, and was admitted to the hospital for their entire stay. When they flew home, the decided to leave Dad there, with her Mom, cause they had planned to return later that year to visit. Well he hasn't been back since (perhaps afraid the mom's cooking might land him in the hospital again or something)
So about a year ago, I'm down at this ladies desk, and her Mother calls. She is having Tea with her friends and is telling them that she has a Man residing in her guest bedroom closet, and he's been there for the past 5 years, but she's never thought until this moment to call and ask his name.
but the price of those for St. Paul parks is outrageous! : :angry:
I have 21 pages of memories and am now caught up again. I also grabbed all the comments from the paper. In a way, I'm glad I don't have to have this all in good shape for tomorrow...there's a week to get it finalized.
I will need to work on a cover page and further tidy things up a bit, but it certainly shows how much people loved him.
Re-reading all this as I was fixing formatting and font sizes, created a whole circle of emotions, Sometimes you have to laugh. Sometimes you want to cry.
You know what they have (although it can't really be enjoyed by the local crew...) in Liberal Kansas, there is a museum with a replica of the house from wizard of oz. the bricks like the one for CM are engraved as a memorial in the yellow brick road. Its pretty cool.
I actually have a brick - and I'm not even dead yet. :smile:
I talked to him more at Amy's memorial service than I ever had before. He pulled in right in front of me at the funeral home and I smiled when I saw him. We visited for a while in the room with the food. That's where he told me the story about his father being a lumber jack. And it turned out he was a friend of one of my relatives in Princeton. The last thing he said to me was, "See you in January".
Oh, I forgot that we had talked about his being a stand up comedian once. My oldest son has a good friend who used to perform in the Twin Cities too and Dave knew him and knew where he had moved to and said to greet him when I saw him. He told me that my son's friend was a strange duck. lol He is that! I forwarded the link to the article in yesterday's paper to my son to send to Harmon.
DAVID YOUNG, 64, of Princeton and formerly of Brewster, died Monday, May 14, 2007, in Minneapolis.
Visitation will be from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. May 25 at Benson Funeral Home, Worthington.
The service will be 1:30 p.m. May 25 at Benson Funeral Home, Worthington. Burial will be in Worthington Cemetery.
I hope that when I pass on, that I can be so fondly remembered, that I can make such an impact in people's lives. I don't think we realized initially the impact that Dave had on us. He seemed to live up to his name of Santa, not just in look but in that magical spirit he had. He didn't have to say much, if anything, to bring you happiness and cheer. There was this hint of magic in his voice, in his smile, in his walk.... in his being.
As I think about it, there's lots of lore surrounding the Winter Carnival and the treasure hunt. It's more of a realization to me that it's not about the winners, but about the people you meet along the way, the characters you encounter. I hope that I can take my kids out hunting for a long time to come. I hope that I can tell them the stories about the Cooler Crew, about people like Dave Young. I hope that they can meet my friends and know them. I want them to enjoy the fun of the treasure hunt, and the people who share the same passion and love of it.
Hunting brings us together, but the friendships and the bonds we make during those few weeks is what keeps us together throughout the year and beyond. We will never forget Dave. Santa never dies, because he's always in our hearts.
Driving to work this morning, there appeared a bright rainbow peaking out from behind a cloud at the top and appeared to arc to the fairgrounds - one of DDY's favorite places.
I hope others have a chance to see one today too.
we are 2 small until the bash
I am so glad you thought of that. I was thinking in the more immediate time frame, but by bringing in all the hunters who knew him or of him, that would give everyone a chance to participate and feel part of the memorial.
You just made my day Kitch!
I loved the drawing that the kids did the night Santa Dave died.
And the posts about some of the things the kids have said.
I wonder if they wouldn't all love a kids' get-together. Its amazing what they "work out" when they are together with other kids who also knew the person who has just died.
Maybe even have some paper and crayons handy in case any of them want to make a card or write a letter to Santa Dave.
Nothing real structured, just some time together, some treats.
My great-niece thought that she and I were the only ones who were *really* sad when my husband, her uncle, died. Because no one was talking about him when she was around. But *she* was talking about him, and it was obvious how sad *I* was. It was really sweet - our bonds were strengthened for our shared grief - yet sad that she felt so alone with her grief. I know there are parts of our grief that are so personal that we MUST make that part of the journey alone, but for what we are able to share, it is also part of the healing. And those who are able to listen and hear and understand are blessings to us.
Just my rambling thoughts this morning...this mourning...
And your icon! The dove and the rainbow!
I also keep calling his cell phone to listen to his wonderful voice. I don't want him to fall off my top 20 call list on my phone. :frown:
I wish I could call and listen to Aimes cell too. :frown: :frown: :frown: :frown: -
I went to Sarahs choir concert last night and I cried through the whole thing. The songs they sang were just right for everything going on with our losses this last week. :frown:
I'm sorry to write it all here.
don't be sorry, this is the best place to let it out, everyone here understands.
I have a few voice mails that I taped and put on my computer last night. They're stored forever. I need to do it with one more from my cell now too.
theres all kinds of greetings, and name lists that you can record things on.... my dad used to have a field day with those things... leaving little stupid poems, or his nicknames on there...
 - he liked to call himself "Joe Cool", or "Doctor Kid"....
even gave himself an honorary PHD.... we get stuff in the mail, that comes addressed to Mark Goedert PHD....:eyeroll:
I contacted Scott Hansen (the comedian that left the message in the PP board) to talk to him about doing a fundraiser for a bench for Santa Dave. He was very thankful that I knew the info about when/where the services were (thanks Terry for posting!) I told him about the bench, and he loved it and said he needed to make a few calls...
He just called me back, and he is totally on board, and he phoned Louie Anderson, and about 20 other comedians who all loved Dave. They are all willing to pitch together to put on a show at the Minnesota Comedy Club (Scotts bro owns the club) plus they have a banquet room, and are willing to donate items for a silent auction!!
Scott seems to think that we would be able to raise more money than just that for one bench - perhaps a bench in several different parks? or a larger memorial - or maybe we could convince the parks & rec to let us place a 'santa chair' in one of the parks?? we need to think about it, and have an actual goal outlined.
Scott is going to try to make Dave's funeral next friday (and was going to call the rest of the fellows to see if they could come too) I told him I would touch base with him the following week after the funeral, to try to get things started,
But being as I am out here...I'm gonna need some CC support there to get this thing off and running, cause as easy as it is to call people over the phone and such - it's a little hard if I'm not actually 'there' the day of.
If I work this right - we get the location donated, the entertainment donated & the food donated - the entire ticket price could go to Santa Dave's fund.
Thats not even including a silent auction part.
We could totally do a really nice memorial, and raise all the funds in 1 night - while having a great time.
Thank you sooooooo much Vino!!!!!!!!
For those of you who don't know, his AIM name was Comic DDY.
You could hear the regret in Scotts voice that he didn't call Dave to tell him about the show. He's truely sorry he missed seeing him one last time. I felt like I needed to reach through the phone and hug him or something.
Terry - do you think we could work with the City to let us put up maybe a big stone chair instead of a bench? I don't have Park contacts there, do you know anyone who we could talk to?
I think we would need to have a park, and a more concrete idea of what we want for promoting the event.
Depending on when I can get this to take place, I'm gonna try to fly back for it. I'd love to be there, and offer my in person support.
he agreed, and loved that the $ was going to fund something related to another one of his passions (being in a park)
It really energized me, to hear how excited he was to help put this on, and the ideas that he was flinging out a mile a minute at me to make this event really sore. I love seeing someone with such passion for something who can make a difference really get behind a project, and that is what we have here.
As far as selecting a park, I would think Como for a couple reasons. First...It is the gem of parks in the Twin Cities. Second...It's within a few blocks of the Great Minnesota Get Together than he dearly loved.