BA English Columbia College 1961; MA Modern European History Columbia University 1964; MA Guidance and MEd Administration TC, CU 1972

US Navy 1961-63; Columbia College Assoc.Dir Admissions 1963-1968; Columbia University Intern’l Alumni Assoc,Ass Dir 1968-70; CU Sch of Engineering Dir Admissions & Financial Aid 1975-77; Tenafly HS, NJ Guidance Counselor, Acting Dir 1977-92

Widow Janet, son Matthew 31, daughter Kate 28, sister Judy Johnston Kreh Northfield ‘55

  

[Dave had] very fond and special memories of his years at Mount Hermon. He spoke often of his deep appreciation of the wonderful faculty who inspired him, and of the friends he knew. He always believed that his experiences there were character defining and confidence building. He credited MH with instilling its values, ethics and ideals in his life. His choice of a career in service to young people, in high school guidance, he proudly credited to his attending MH.

                                                                        

Those formative years, he believed, were a major influence on his becoming the person he was – a devoted husband and father, a compassionate friend, and a dedicated student advocate. Family was paramount in his life, and the students he worked with at Tenafly HS became an extension of that dedication.    He was held in high esteem by his fellow educators and was awarded the Distinguished Teachers Award the year prior to his diagnosis, a humbling and very proud moment for Dave. The guidance suite at Tenafly was renamed and dedicated in his memory. His love of reading (anything and everything!) and his enjoyment of music and the arts were again, a legacy from MH. He often recalled the inspirational services in the Chapel, and at one time considered entering the ministry.

 

His home was his castle and the yard was his domain. He was actively involved in our children’s sports programs and scouting, with our church and Sunday school program, and with Habitat for Humanity.

 

He was not here with us during most of our son Matt’s HS years and missed all of Kate’s. They especially felt the loss of his guidance and support during those difficult decision-making years. How proud he would be of them – Matt with his MA in Urban Planning and Regional Development from Cornell University, and Kat a successful IT, loving her work in Manhattan. We miss him terribly.

 

I am grateful to have been made so welcome by the MH Class of ’57. I am enclosing a poem written in Dave’s memory, by a Tenafly colleague, Dana Holley Maloney, which truly captures the essence of Dave. He is deeply missed. I hope his friends of 50 years will feel his presence as they read her memorial tribute to this wonderful man. 

                            - Janet Johnston

 

            The Weaver’s Eyes

 

At the funeral the minister asked us

to send up a memory of this man

whose absence our minds will not admit.

I did not know him long in time,

but quickly he let me know him.

That was his way. He did not like

to see people alone; he drew them in.

When I think of him, I remember a moment

when he let me see with his eyes.

He said one word. He said “we”.

We had been separate – a teacher,

a student, a counselor. But his gentle

voice, like a wand, transformed us.

We opened our eyes to see what we

had become: one in purpose, responsible

for one another. That was how he saw

things: as we all know they should be.

But he did not accept that should

did not mean will. He was a weaver

of people, stringing mind to mind and

heart to heart. He made us believe

we could do anything - together.

Filling the church that day

were the many “we”s he was part of –

family, friends, students. Young and

older than he was. In each group

there was a space where we knew he

should be. Yet each group was woven

tight, a fabric only he could have wrought.

A sign he had been there. When the men

marched in, we waited for him

to follow, smiling, moving in a way

that would comfort all of us. But that day

he could not come. That day we knew,

as we know now, he can never leave us

either. When we look into each other’s eyes,

we know, he sees us too.