MEMORIAL MINUTE: DAVID BECHTEL
David Albert Bechtel, known to all Friends as Dave, became part of our Meeting in the Autumn of 2003, and passed away on April 3, 2006 after struggling valiantly for nearly ten months with Stage 4 lung cancer. He was 68, and a welcome, vigorous presence for us all. During his two years with our Meeting Dave served energetically on many committees and special threshing sessions, and influenced us all deeply and beneficially. His passing leaves a sad gap in our community, in the peace movement, and in the Society of Friends.
Born in Mansfield, OH on March 18, 1938, Dave was a member of a German-American family whose founding grandfather had immigrated from Austria-Hungary. When Dave was a young child his father and mother moved the family to the Cleveland area, where he grew up. He graduated from Parma High School in 1956, and attended the University of Toledo. Eager to make his way in the world and little interested in college, he left it in his senior year and began a series of jobs in the sales field that continued for most of his life before retirement.
In 1963 he and Carol Vander Meer of Battle Creek, MI were married, and they eventually had three children: twins Anne Elizabeth and Karl David, and Jane Catherine. They moved briefly to Old Westbury, New York, but in 1964 moved on to Ridgefield, CT, then to the Hartford area in 1971.
In 1967 he started Bechtel and Company, selling measuring instruments in New England. In the 1970’s he founded Valmet, Inc and sold high precision electronic measuring instruments, manufactured in Germany, through a national network of manufacturer‘s agents. Eventually Dave sold Valmet to the German manufacturer of the products it sold.
Dave grew up Presbyterian, and followed the Presbyterian faith until relatively late in his life. He served as a Deacon at Wilton Presbyterian Church and Elder and Clerk of Session at Westminster Presbyterian Church. In 1989 Carol began attending Hartford Friends Meeting , but Dave remained Presbyterian until they moved to Washington in 1991.
During his years in Connecticut Dave became increasingly concerned about the human and material costs of violence and war, and active in the peace movement. He helped to found an ongoing public peace vigil in West Hartford. Volunteering to open a United States office for the Canadian peace organization Earth Day International, he selected Washington, DC as the site and moved the family there.
That venture was short lived, but Dave developed new sales work in Washington and began to work actively on his peace concerns as he and Carol attended Friends Meeting of Washington. Both eventually became Members, and Dave served on the Finance and Property Committee, and the Hunger and Homelessness Task Force; for years he made soup, organized a monthly meal, and served it to homeless people through the Salvation Army‘s Grate Patrol.
As retirement age approached Dave and Carol agreed to live aboard a cruising sailboat, a dream Dave had developed during his years in Washington. For three winters they cruised the waters of Florida and the Bahamas, but realized they liked living in Florida but not on a sailboat. They chose Sarasota as their retirement home, and purchased a yet-to-be built town house there. They moved to Sarasota in November, 2003, and into the new home in May, 2004.
Plunging into both peace and Meeting activity, Dave and Carol transferred their membership to Sarasota Monthly Meeting. Dave served as Clerk of the Meeting’s Peace and Social Concerns Committee, and a member of both the Meeting House and Trustees/Finance Committees, as well as serving on the National
Board of Friends Peace Teams.
In addition to peace work with the Meeting Dave was asked to represent Meeting on the Southwest Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice, where he soon became Treasurer and a member of the executive group. In 2005 he organized a silent peace vigil in downtown Sarasota’s Bayfront Park, which continues to meet every Friday afternoon. During this period he read extensively on the character and influence on American life of the military-industrial complex , spoke of his concern on many occasions, and intended making it one of his principal activities had he lived.
Although Dave’s active presence in Sarasota Meeting lasted less than two years, he very quickly became one of the most popular and influential members, through his committee service and his warm, loving discussions with us during our coffee and fellowship periods. He brought special wisdom, new ideas, and fresh insights to problems facing the Meeting. His eloquent testimonies to peace, non-violence, and reverential concern for “that of God in everyone” influenced us all. His life experience in the business world, blended with his deeply spiritual commitment to Quaker values, enriched our Meetings for Worship With a Concern for Business. His work on the Trustees/Finance and Meeting House committees led to a new appreciation of the rationale of financial planning and a new approach to budgeting.
We have missed Dave’s cheerful and wise presence more than words can convey. He was a very special person, and a very special member of our Meeting. During the somber last weeks of his life many of us were able to visit and have wonderful talks with him, in which he talked with equanimity about dying, his sadness leaving his family and his friends, and the satisfaction he enjoyed about many of the things he had accomplished. We had two meetings for worship in his home during his last days, precious meetings in which our community truly gathered and joined spirits. We learned from him, and loved him, literally until he died.
Dave is survived by Carol, his wife of forty three years, his sister, Sandra Bennett, and his children Anne Daniels, Karl Bechtel, and Jane Bechtel Brown, and three grandchildren, Carol RoseDaniels, William David Daniels, and Audrey Anne Brown.