Remembering Dave
(September 2007)

Dave Waters passed away September 29, 2000 and I still cannot get over it. My memories of the years I spent at Lee are inextricably bound up with recollections of this great friend and the good times we had together.

Intelligent, personally charming, and with great leadership qualities he was a favorite with teachers, administrators, and his classmates at Lee. Dave and I were in a lot of the same organizations and classes together. We even worked at the same places: Springfield Country Club as waiters and Springfield Esso as grease monkeys. About the only thing we didn’t do together was sports. I was a defensive end on the football team and Dave held the number one slot on the golf team. I recall that he was really good on the links while I was mediocre, at best, on the gridiron. But off the playing fields there was greater sport to be had.

After work Dave and I would usually head into DC, armed with fake ID’s, to slake our thirst at the real Old Ebbitt grill on F Street along with such luminaries as Richard Turner, Dave Powell, and Jim Kern. Mandy, the ancient bar tender there, knew us as regulars and we downed more than our share of brew while staring up at the moose head crowned with a German helmet that was mounted behind the bar. Ebbitt’s was a very popular destination with students at Lee; if you went there on a typical Friday night you could have probably taken our class picture!

We all learned many important things at the “Big E”. To this day I can still recite the Budweiser pledge that we committed to memory there(“This is the famous Budweiser beer. We know of no brand produced by any other brewer that costs so much to brew and age. Our exclusive Beechwood ageing process produces

a taste, a .…”).No, really, it still does come in handy sometimes.

Dave and I talked about everything under the sun but mostly about girls. We were constantly astounded by the number of drop-dead gorgeous women we knew or wanted to know at Lee. When we didn’t have to work we often double-dated in Dave’s white VW bug. We’d swing by and pick up my girlfriend(you know who you are!) and Dave’s date and head on down to Brick’s, the Bayou, the 823 Restaurant, Cafedons, Tom Foolery, or Ebbitt’s. What a blast!

Dave always had a ready smile and a terrific sense of humor. We frequently played a trick on our dates whenever we went to the 823. It was a German restaurant in DC that served Lowenbrau beer in boot-shaped glasses. The waiters would always place the “boot” on the table with the toe pointing away. When our dates tried to take a drink an air pocket would magically appear and splash beer on their noses. We cagily shifted the position of our “boots” so that the toe pointed left or right when we raised them to take a drink. Done this way no tsunami of beer ruined the pleasure of any sip we took. Our dates invariably failed to notice the all-important toe angle and were rewarded with a splash for every drink they took no matter how gingerly they lifted their glasses. Dave and I would patiently explain that they were raising their boots too quickly and if they weren’t so greedy they wouldn’t get splashed. Eventually, we would divulge the secret and enjoy a good laugh.

After graduation I went off to William & Mary and Dave headed to the University of Texas. We kept in touch, seeing each other during breaks. Eventually, Dave returned to the DC area and began to work for Washington Gas. He started dating one of our classmates, the beautiful and vivacious Pat Burford, and they married several years later. He and Pat lived a good life in Florida until death took him away from her and us.

I remember a man who never met a stranger and who would do anything for you. I could not have asked for a more generous friend. Need a couple of bucks until payday --- here’s $20. Need to borrow the car while Dave was stuck at work --- here are the keys. Need the shirt off his back --- you get the idea.

Flip through our junior and senior yearbooks and you’ll see him there on page after page. Smiling out from the photographs he exudes self-confidence and a maturity beyond his years. Key Club, Hi-Y, class office, President of the student government; you name an organization at Lee and Dave was probably in it. Even in a class filled with smart, motivated, dynamic people he was a standout.

He never, never, ever let me down. I was lucky and proud to be his friend. I’ll always miss him.

Bob Nay

Lee High ‘67