A great soul with a booming voice.
Many of David's family mention how much his "booming voice will be missed." He sang Russian, Italian, French, Turkish and English folk songs with his booming voice. He sang in choirs and his voice was often heard above the rest...
A great soul is one who sees that of God in everyone. David saw the good in everyone.
At Allen's Neck Friends Meeting, we did not hear his booming voice, as Parkinson's disease had taken it away. However, we were touched by his spirit as he sat with us in Meeting for Worship almost every Sunday for the past six years. As his Parkinson's progressed, getting dressed and ready for Meeting became more difficult, but he struggled, got ready and joined us. He loved coming to Meeting for Worship.
A great soul rarely complains, errs on the side of upbeat and is only concerned with things that they can do something about. That's David.
David was a direct descendant of Mary Dyer, and his life's witness in the world was like hers - remarkable. He was with the CIA during the Cold War, stationed on the Russian-Turkish border, trained Russian defectors in the art of espionage. His trainees, with whom he usually became close friends, were almost always killed. Later he joined with M. L. King and the Rainbow Coalition, and successfully worked to get the Plumbers and Electricians Unions to admit African Americans into full membership. David was a political organizer and worked on many campaigns, including Endicott (Chub) Peabody's successful run for Govenor of Massachusetts. David lobbied successfully for accreditation for the Conway School of Landscaped design. He was in charge of Massachusetts Tomorrow, a group that looked at environmental and demographic projections for the future of the state. There was much more...
David leaves his wife, Jeanne, of 53 years and their three children, Marten, Matthew, Rachael and seven grandchildren. He loved dogs and contemporary history. We miss him.