David and I were extended  family.  Our parents were close.   Christmas eve at the Graber's was a yearly event.  It was on that one night we would spend time with David's older half sister Rayla.  She was so sweet and beautiful.  David had that same kind  of natural goodness and sweetness.  He never had an unkind word for anyone growing up. I remember that very well.  Interesting that David and Rayla would end up living close in adult life in Alameda..  Perhaps it was meant to be 

 Our mothers were together on a daily basis.  My mom loved Barbara.  They picked fruit on a Brentwood  ranch every summer season, and David  with big bros Kelly and Steven, whom David looked up to, and I, would be in tow to pick, gather and fill the boxes to return to Orinda where Barbara would teach Gert how to can fruit for the winter.  David's dad Victor called my mother  every afternoon around 4pm..  She was his sounding board; they shared roots.  Gert understood his ambition and his pressures in business.

We  all grew up together,  friends for life.  While time, circumstance and distance parted us, those formative years are our common foundation.  We are the people we are because of those times, our time.  I fondly recall how inquisitive David was.  He always was asking me questions.  Questions about anything and everything.  I was only three years senior, no  great answer man.  Nonetheless, his curiosity and sincerity I will never forget.

My lost friend David was a searcher.  He sought truth in life.  He loved his trumpet,  he loved his family that I never got to know,  His kindness and gentle way was healing to all who to entered his life.  Sadly, he could not find that kindness and peace  in himself.  It sounds hollow at this point to say I wish I could have helped him find that self love and peace.  He deserved better.  

You gave life all you had to give David.  You can be proud.  You brought love, joy and happiness to this  planet.   So much more than most people.  You were unselfish and kind  and those qualities will live on  in your loved ones until we pass as well.  As I write this note I am looking at the framed picture you sent me a couple years ago of my late sister Susan, who adored you, and I, at two and six years respectively, sitting on a wall in Orinda at our childhood home. Sending me that framed picture out of the blue was evidence of the guy with the big heart that you were.

Love to your family.  I can not be at your memorial in person.   Your memory will live on in me.

Bruce