Cleave Carter
Posted Mar 05, 2021
at 05:00pm
David grew up in the outdoors: camping, fishing, mowing lawns, painting fences, and riding dirt bikes. His favorite was an IT-175. As a teen and young man, he was often seen cruising in the various rides that he owned during his youth- a T-Top Z/28, Trans Am, Cutlas 442, and El Camino, to name a few.
David liked to keep moving. He was never one to linger long on the streets of Williamstown and Bennington, although he cruised by often. One would see his cars parked outside dive bars such as General Starks and Roger’s Roost, where David worked as a doorman and bartender as a teen when the drinking age in Vermont was 18. Later, David became a salesman and then a tradesman doing lawn services.
David was sharp of mind and wit. He was mischievous. He was tough but sensitive. He cared more about loyalties and the substance of a person than looks or social status. He looked for a way to make friends with people, but he never took crap from anyone. He was a gracious and gregarious soul who loved family and friends.
I was fortunate to be such a friend. He was my loyal and loving best friend to the end. Since months after I was born in 1966. His brothers my brothers, his sister my sister, his parents my parents, his daughter my daughter. Always generous. Always forgiving. Always faithful. Thank you David, for being my brother.
Now David is gone. The memories pass like a sea, to where it is hard to capture any particular image of David without another flowing through it.
One day I may sort through these images to place them in context, but for now the past with David seems endless and involved with the future. He will always be a part of my life. The future with him is now in lessons and memories. We had some fun. One day I may bring myself to write about some of the times we had. There should have been a law … and indeed, there often was.
Perhaps when some time has passed and distance allows for reflection, I’ll be able to understand that this riptide has ended with him no longer with us. That David has been carried away. Until that time, I’ll spend my reflections of he and I as swimmers still in the ocean, laughing at the tides and loving this life.
