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Funerals are not my favorite events, but the service you held yesterday was a very meaningful and a wonderful tribute to a very special person. Everything you said was reflected in the smiling picture of David. Polly and I will always remember our last visit with David here at Big Canoe. He was so positive and even talked about playing tennis on his next visit. He put a finance program on my computer that I use every day. We stayed in touch by email and telephone and I always enjoyed our times together and his political humor. Davy, I can't agree that he forgave the Democrats. Anyway I would like to just send you some of the memories that I have enjoyed over the past few days. For some reason we never called each other David and Ellis. We were always D Grow and E Mills. |
| Summer Music Camp and FSU |
I first met David at the FSU music camp in 1954 and then again in 1955. We sort of bonded as trumpet players from Georgia. In 1956, we started FSU as members of the Marching Chiefs. I remember a band trip to Philadelphia that fall. David and I saw in the paper that Nat King Cole was performing in town. We caught a cab to the other side of town and went into a dark little bar. I know we looked and sounded like two guys straight from Tara. As we looked around we sort of looked different than anyone else. We enjoyed the night and Nat King Cole. The people could not have been any nicer to us. I think they were more surprised than we were. David and I both became pledges of SAE and with the help of Bill we were initiated by Peter Zack Geer that spring. David and I roomed together most of the next three years. I can remember that every night when I went to bed David was studying and when I woke up he was studying. That is probably the reason that when we jointly received the SAE scholarship trophy for the year, his GPA was a whole point above mine (he graduated after the winter semester and I finished in the spring). I enjoyed (though I didn't understand what I was doing) going with David to punch computer cards in the science dept. |
| Our SAE road trip was to Gainesville |
I remember going with David in his dad's Ford. On the way to Gainesville we stopped at a bridge and took down the sign of the "Historic Suwannee River." A man saw us and turned around and followed us until we lost him. Just before we got to Gainesville we came to a police road block and the car stopped in front of us was just like the Ford we were driving. We knew they were looking for us and we were headed to jail. Well, it was just a license check and we were soon on our way without their finding the Suwannee River sign in the trunk. Later that evening we painted FSU all over the UF stadium, salted SAE on the Phi Delta lawn, painted the Sigma Chi house with paint that the Sigma Chi's gave us to paint the SAE house, and "collected" the President's Trophy from the Sigma Nu house. We bought back various required items including a "Tom Cat" which we got from a farmer on the way back. |
| The Shark (not the one in the picture--a big one) |
The summer after graduation Polly and I went with David to visit Sandi in Delray Beach. One afternoon while swimming we were asked to help a man who was fishing. He said that his line was caught on something and since we had on our bathing suits he would like for us to take his knife and swim out and free his line. David wisely said that he could have our bathing suits and go himself. The catch turned out to be a huge shark that we beached after he bit a wooden pole in half. We then took a picture of the man and his shark (with his camera). The man turned his jacket around so that the letters of "Webb's Tackle Shop" would show. A year later, I saw that picture in a Wildlife magazine in Germany. Later that summer David was in our wedding even though his own wedding in South Florida was in just a couple of days. |
| The Camping Trip to Rutledge State Park |
Polly and I returned from Germany in two years and immediately found David, Sandi and family in the Atlanta area. We had many good times together. One camping trip that I remember was to Rutledge State Park. We got there early and set up our tent. The Grows arrived after dark with a borrowed tent with two sets of poles that they had never put up before. The "mathematician" put the tent up using both sets of poles, and all of the Grows, including the dog, spent the night in it. The next morning, we looked at his creation. If we could have hooked up a TV we would have picked up stations from around the world. I've never seen so many poles sticking out in so many ways. |
| Meeting Out West |
A few years later we both, without knowing the other's plans, took family trips out west. We had been out a few weeks when we stopped in a small town in Utah to use the local laundromat. While sitting there Brother, our son, suddenly yelled "there are the Grows!" and took off running down the street. He caught up and we all spent some great days together hiking in Zion National Park. These are just a few of the special memories that I have of times with a special friend, D Grow. I will miss him so much. --E Mills |