Friday, October 4, 2013
Where do I start on my memories about Dave Foster.
I guess it began when I was about 17 years old and I met this great big burly tough guy at Fox acres country club where I was working on the landscaping crew.
He had a very manly demeanor about him self and he walked with confidence and strength.
In the beginning my coworkers and I tried to distance ourselves from Dave because we were intimidated by him. But there was something about him that made us want to be like him as young men. What I didn't realize was that Dave was actually teaching me lessons in life from the first day I met him on how to be a man.
One instance where we tried to get Dave's goat was when Clayton Fawcett and I hid his sod cutting knife under the sod pieces that we were rolling out. I remember Dave walking around the corner knowing that his knife was right there near us and it came up missing...he turned red & the vein popped out of his forehead he said words that I didn't even know the meaning of! Clayton and I both felt pretty ashamed at our juvenile prank as soon as he disappeared around the corner fuming like an angry bear, we quickly pulled the knife out from under the sod and tried to pretend it never happened.
Dave quickly found out that there would be no work accomplished if Clayton and I worked together. He would split us up on the crews and he would start to give us lessons on how to get work done. He taught us a work ethic, he taught us how to be proud of our work, he taught us how to pay attention to details.
After working with Dave that first summer I realize I learned a lot from him.
But my best memories of Dave was when I spent one year by myself working with Dave at Fox acres on the landscaping crew.
Dave taught me how to run the loader and not just how to run the loader but how to operate the loader. There is a difference between running something and operating it he would say. He taught me how to be one with the machine how to feel what is going on as you're working the dirt or moving a rock or digging out trees and not to just be a slipshod operator that causes more harm than good.
He taught me how to run a chainsaw how to tighten the chain, how to run it safely but efficiently how to care for it, change the spark plugs, flip the bar around, cut under hand, over hand, notch trees and back cut. We cutdown logs up on dead man mountain that he used to build his barn on Prairie divide.
We would drive around in the old GMC Jimmy and he would be belting out old Hank Williams songs plus some currents artists like Dwight Yoakam all in the tune of Elvis.
I remember one story where Dave was having a hard day and as he was walking up from the barn at their house on prairie divide he noticed a blanket hanging on a limb of the tree... Now Dave was in no mind to see that blanket on that tree anymore for some reason he decided to rip that blanket off the tree limb. He yanked the blanket once than twice then a third time but that blanket refused to let go of that limb so Dave grabbed that blanket with a vice like grip and put it over his shoulder and he took off running to the house as fast as he could. Dave hit the end of that blanket and his feet shot straight up in the air, he landed on his back with a thud and as he laid there he heard something.......when he looked up toward the house Michelle was on the deck giggling and had seen the whole thing!
Dave was the most incredible horseshoer or farrier that I've ever seen. I'm not a huge horse person but my wife is, and I've seen a lot of guys shoe horses over the years I've never seen anybody who could turn their hand at this trade any better than Dave Foster. Dave even taught me a few things on an old coal forge down at the place in Glacierview. We fired up the Old forge and made barbecue tongs, horseshoes, hoof picks and lamp stands.
You know I don't think there's a day that went by with Dave that he didn't mention his time as a tank commander. From the training stories where he covered a guy in dirt with a blast from his tank or sliding down hills in Germany on ice covered slopes through the rock retaining walls to his incredible knowledge of the machines and their capabilities you could tell that Dave loved the army Dave loved his country and Dave loved being a tank commander.
I've got 1000 Dave Foster stories. But the best one is that Dave was my friend and I loved him dearly and I cherish those memories.
