Trip to MN

I got to ride with you and Maggie when we made the trip from Pittsburgh to Lakeville. We were in the car with Maggie so long we must have just gotten used to the smell. It was when you got out for lunch or had a bathroom break and you re-entered the car that you realized how bad her breath was and how much air she had breathed out. 

I'm guessing it wasn't that trip where I dropped my Big Mac on the floor. If I dropped it on the floor with Maggie around, it would have been gone pretty quick. I guess I was pretty upset about it and made it clear that I would not be eating it. I assume you may have tried some negotiations and in the end your distaste for grit in your food lost out to your desire for forward movement. You traded with me and all were satisfied, as far as I know anyway.

Andy Kester

Lakeville

I don't have a lot of memories from Pittsburgh, most of my memories are from Lakeville. I remember helping you in the garage and in the yard. I remember a lot of wood-related work. Stacking, re-stacking, re-re-stacking and so on. I remember also showing a great deal of enthusiasm for helping you in the garden. Could just be my memory but I recall that you would have to make me stop weeding at the end of the day so that I  would come in for dinner and I was always asking when we could get back out there.

Andy Kester

The Dukes of Hazzard

The Dukes of Hazard: Boss Hogg, Cletus and a couple of good old boys, never meaning no harm. 

Not sure how we stumbled upon it but we must have just been flipping through the channels on our 11 inch black and white tin foil topped TV when we came across a show that was one of the funniest things we had ever seen. I think we laughed so hard that the rest of the family came in to see what was going on. 

Not sure I illustrated this perfectly in my stories, but you have provided me opportunity to develop character, a strong work ethic, morality, and an ability to see eye to eye and connect with my own children. Thanks, Dad!!

Andy

The Big Sailing Trip

The big sailing trip.

I was at least eighteen, and not sure of much in my life, contrary to all appearances.  Dad asked me to start out his largest voyage to date.

I was honored, and needed some good time with dad, but also the solace of the open water and a little adventure too.

I saw the greatest sunset of my life there with dad.  We passed through clouds of giant biting flies.  I got to enter cities as a person of the water and not just a passenger in a car.

This was a different way to approach civilization, and with the time on the water was so much more valued.

Dad and I had good talks, and we even got a little tired of each other.  Either way my world got bigger in those two weeks and I thank him for it.

This trip, was a microcosm of all the time I spent with dad on the boat.  I started off thinking of the sailboat as slow and boring, but the shore as full of intrigue and smelly things.  Now I think of all those times with Dad, whether spent in the cabin, on the deck, or exploring the shore, fondly, and a big part of who I am now.

Thanks Dad, you shared your passion with me, and helped me learn to have passion.

April Kester

Jean and Dave Biking in Portugal - Fall 2015

Jean and Dave in the Bahamas 1997

Sailing with Dave in the Bahamas (circa 1999)

Sophia + Grandpa - Funny Face Challenge

One of the best BEST  memories that I have is the funny face challenge, this is how Grandpa came up with it… all he did was well he just said to me show me your best funny face, and like I always do I did it, so he said that he could compete with that and he did. I still won and will not NOT forget that.

Sophia Kester

Peewee’s Great Adventure

Jean’s long anticipated arrival was to be Sunday, so Capt Dave moved the boat from St Anne, Martinique to Ans Mitan.  The trip was uneventful save for the frequency of urination of Capt Dave. (CONCERNED PARENTS AND THE SQUEAMISH, IT GETS NO WORSE THAN THIS!)

St Lucia on our way home!

As day led into night, the condition worsened. By early morning it was intolerable, so Capt Dave tries the VHF radio; no help. Capt Dave heads over to the adjacent boat, a French Catamaran. The Capt is awakened and can help.  It turns out that he (Christian) has had maybe 15 similar episodes, has a cell phone, and a list of numbers to call.

Soon the bombiers (firefighters) are bouncing Captain Dave's butt and Peewee to an emergency room.

They run blood and urine tests and conclude that he has a bladder infection. A prescription is written and Capt Dave is released with the warning to return if the urine stops.

The urine stops, about 2 AM. Our luckless Capt heads next door to waken Christian once more.

Christian gets on the phone again and soon Captain Dave and Peewee find themselves at the best hospital in Martinique. A record (I'm sure) – 1.65L is removed from the much-relieved Capt Dave’s bladder. Peewee is less thrilled. Especially after the insertion of an endoscope about the diameter of a pencil. As an afterthought the 1.65 thing should be submitted to Guinness.

Enter Jean of Arc for her one week vacation from slaying perverted dragons or Corporate Giants (same thing). The vacation starts with a stranger (Christan) meeting her at the dock and giving her directions to the hospital. Jean soon arrives at the hospital to find a moaning Capt Dave and a devastated Peewee. Throughout the week, Jean engaged in enough battles to be considered for Sainthood, including several with the demon outboard. Finally, vacation finished, St Jean escorted Capt Dave and Peewee and Peewee's shame (catheter bag) back to Minneapolis.

More to follow someday.

Capt Dave and Peewee

Me and My Dad

A Sailing Trip to Remember (Or Maybe Forget)

I was excited - a trip to Martinique to meet Sailor Dave! We were to meet at a specific dock that I was to get to by taxi. I arrived, Dave did not. Instead there was a man holding a sign with my name on it! His name was Christian and his message - Dave is in the hospital! A great start to our vacation. After a stop to drop my stuff at the boat (situated in a water lane for the ferry that passed several times a day), off to the hospital I go in a cab!

Dave is in the hallway waiting for a room. His story is related in the next post called Peewee’s Great Adventure written by our Birthday Boy!

This is my story with and without Dave. So after seeing that Dave was in a room and basically okay, I took a cab back to the town where the boat was anchored. Christian showed me where to shop and then got me back to the boat and showed me how to work the dinghy.

View from hospital (Club Med in background!)

So I was on my own on the water without Sailor Dave! In the morning I took the dinghy to shore for breakfast. I actually anchored the dinghy the right way at the dock! Not sure how I knew, maybe telepathy from Dave in the hospital or looking at the other anchored dinghies. After a nice breakfast I went shopping for my dinner - great tomatoes, great french bread, and of course French wine. Very good for less than $3 per bottle! Back to the boat with my stash. Not so fast - at the dinghy I could not get the anchor pulled up. What to do - tie the anchor to the dock to be used for the duration of the trip and off I went.

Daily routine was breakfast in town, shopping for dinner, back to the boat for R&R, back to town to catch a bus to the hospital after getting Dave a nice lunch and at the hospital some fresh fruit and of course water which the hospital did not provide. Food yes, water no!

Not exactly the vacation I imagined. And at one point while on the boat eating my wonderful dinner, the the rocking from the ferries tossed a perfectly good glass of wine across the boat. I was actually thinking it might be nice to be back at work (and believe it or not I said this to Dave)! Not a very nice wife thing to say. My friend Sandy’s comment when I called her was "why don’t you check into a hotel?" Very practical advice that I ignored!

After 4 days of this routine I was sort of getting used to it, but did miss sharing my trip with someone, Dave mainly, but at this point anyone would do! As luck would have it, two guys stopped by the boat. One of them was from MN and knew about our boat's manufacturer. Very fortuitous. Besides going to dinner with them  and their crew (I invited myself), they agreed to move the boat to the dock where we were going to leave it. And they also retrieved that dinghy anchor for me.

One more adventure followed - the dingy motor cotter pin broke. I waved down a man on another boat who turned out to be an Argentinian sailor sunbathing on his yacht--in the nude. He took me to town (he did get dressed first), and Christian fixing the dinghy!

At last we were on our way home. Took some time to get checked out of the hospital (they wanted to be sure they would get paid - they did!), down to the boat to sleep our last night, and then off to the airport. It was an eventful flight home, but we finally made it.

In hindsight, the trip was a great adventure that we never need to repeat!

Jean Weiss

Smells Like Teen Spirit

I was 14 and Dave graciously let me spend a couple of weeks with him, Joan and Jill in Pennsylvania.  He is either a good man or a fool for accommodating a young teenager in his home.  We did a lot of sailing and other fun things for me at the time.  I will always have good memories of those adventures.  There are a few that were memorable but not so fond:

• Being the large-footed teen that I was, I was quite clumsy on the boat.  It irritated Dave quite a bit when I would fall or stumble around.  He made a few comments and I tried to improve but soon tripped coming out of the cabin and fell floundering into the cockpit.  He instinctively hit me on the top of the head and the crown on my front tooth flew off onto the floor of the cockpit. We retrieved it and tried to fix it but ended up having to take me to the dentist to get it re-attached. Joan was not happy and the sailing fun came to an abrupt end for that trip.

• I was first mate on docking at the harbor at the Lake Erie marina as we were stopping to attend church services there one Sunday morning.  Dave warned me not to let the bow bump into the concrete wall as he was making a straight-in approach.  I was hanging off the bow railing with one foot on the boat and and one ready to stop the boat from hitting the concrete dock.  I slipped and fell into the harbor water right in front of the bow.  Dave and Joan said I bounced back up on the boat as if I had springs on my feet.  I did get completely dunked in nasty harbor water, but in order to make it to the church service on time, I was not allowed to shower.....only change some of my clothes and head to the services.  I am pretty sure I smelled like bilge water and my long hair was crusty and pasty and the same time.  

Richard Kester

Will's Big "Fish"

Dave so kindly took Will and me on a Bahama sail boat cruise when Will was 10. Dave had procured a small rubber fish somewhere and had thought up a practical joke to play on young Will. 

While Will was fishing on one side of the boat, Dave slipped into the water on the other side, swam underneath and put the rubber fish on Will's hook.  He tugged Will's line quite a bit making it appear that he had hooked a large fish.

While Will was reeling it in, Dave climbed back on the boat and waited for him to land the rubber fish.  Poor Will thought he had a monster fish up until he pulled it on deck.  Needless to say, Will did not see the full humor. 

During the cruise we spent some time scrubbing the hull with a brush, using a mask, snorkel and fins.  Dave always said not to use the head while he was under the boat scrubbing.  I think Will had a trick of his own for Dave and left a present for him in the water.  Payback from a  scorned 10 year old fisherman.

Richard Kester

The Cursing Toddler

Being the youngest (by 6 years) of 3 three older siblings including a 16 year age gap between me and my oldest  brother, I learned to speak at an early age.  Between 2 and 3 years old, I have be told that I could mimic others quite well.

While standing in the receiving line after mom's funeral service, Mike Miller, one of Dave's best teenage buddies informed me that Dave and himself got much enjoyment of teaching me curse words and their usages in phases on several occasions.  To that day, I thought I had learned those words from the Higdon boys when I was about 5 years old.

Richard Kester

Some Enchanted Evenings

How did Dave and I get together? 

I am sure you all have been wondering or maybe not. Well, it started at a bar called Sherlock’s Home. Two fun-loving women were meeting some handsome dudes (maybe guys is a better choice for 27 years ago) from Control Data Corporate. Of course we had stopped somewhere else first so we arrived fashionably late! It appeared that all the CDC folks had left. But wait, here comes someone I recognize. I did not remember his name, but we said hello. Don’t we know each other? One drink lead to dinner and then we parted ways. So that was it - not exactly enchanted, but a fun time!

Next up: a date. I am sure it was within week or so of our first dinner. Dave asked me out, not sure where we went or what we did. I am sure it was fun. Dave can fill in the details perhaps! Maybe it was enchanted!

Then weeks passed. No communication. Next up drinks after a particularly trying day! As I was animatedly explaining a disastrous meeting, my wine went flying into Dave’s lap! Oops! Of course I apologized profusely. The evening ended happily. Our first of many enchanted evenings to come.

Jean Weiss

Grandpa and Annalee--An Unexpected Response

I don't remember this but I've been told. You know those black footstools by the fireplace? I was very little and was playing with Grandpa on the floor.  He rolled one towards me. I screamed. I wasn't just scared, I was terrified.

Now I'm not though.

Annalee Kester

Grandpa + Sophia - sailboat

One memory of  grandpa is the sailboat. He would sit with me on the deck, and sometimes let me steer  and it was really fun with him. I loved being on the boat because...of course...grandpa was there. My whole family went on the boat and we all did fun stuff, sometimes we slept on  the boat and I can never forget that memory.

Sophia Kester

Grandpa and Will

One of my favorite memories of Grandpa was when we were bored and grandpa said, "What do you want to do?"
I said, "Wanna do a puzzle?"
He said, "I'm too old for puzzles."
I said, "I'll teach you."
He thought that was a bad idea but he tried it anyway. We started out with a basic puzzle. And then the puzzles got harder. And after about an hour I said, "What do you want to do now?" and Grandpa picked up...another puzzle.

William H. Kester

A Secret No Longer

It was a snowy winter day many years ago.  Grandpa Dave (though he was not a grandpa then) was driving home from work. Traffic was slow and I mean slow. Then traffic STOPPED! 

Nature called. What was he to do?! 

Remember those overshoes men used to wear to protect their shoes from the rain? Let's just say they hold liquids in, not just out! 

Okay, I know this is really embarrassing, but I have kept this secret for too long. 

Sorry Grandpa Dave! 

I love you, Jean

Dave the Good Sport, Aesthete, Cook...

Happy Birthday, Dave. 

I haven’t known you as long as all of the others who are posting here, so the good old family stories can’t really apply. Jill said “funny” stories. Hmmm. My stories about you would be more characterized as “sweet.”  You are a gentle spirit. In the 17 years or so that I have known you, I have never seen you be anything but really kind, tolerant and interested in others—especially your family.  I’m sure you have your goofball stories with them…but I’ll honor your 75^th from a slightly different perspective.

To me, I celebrate you as a consistently good sport, a deep thinker, an aesthete, a great cook, and always an enjoyable companion.   I am so appreciative of the myriad of times I have tagged along with you and Jean, and the time when you drove to Mayo to be with me after my surgery. Of course there was the time you brought me home from a colonoscopy, too. I notice and appreciate your keen interest in and commitment to the kids that you volunteer with, and the real respect and involvement that you had/have with your own mom and kids, since I have known you. I actually have enjoyed our conversations about anxiety and the mysteries of the mind. I’m sure we will have more as we get older and face even more mysteries!

I wish you the best of birthdays and many, many more. I am very happy to be in your life. 

Love, 

Sue Cook

Dave the Movie Goer

"Let's go to a movie, Dave Kester!"  A simple statement to a friend. . . or in your case, "NOT REALLY". 

Going to a movie with you, Dave, is not that easy.  Being sure the movie is not uncomfortable, too emotional, or quite graphic are just a few of the stipulations you are concerned with. 

You, Dave, might ask, 

"Is anyone in this flick going to be embarrassed by another character?"  
"Will a character in this movie be in an uncomfortable situation?" 

"What about the children in this production; are they neglected?" 

"Will I have to endure a roller coaster of emotional turmoil before a happy ending?"

Are we wrong? Or did we hit the nail on the head? (Editorial comment from Jill: refer to exhibits A and B, below.)

 

Dave, even though you are not a good friend to see a flick with, you are the best person we know that can take apart and put together a sailboat; and then sail it to far-away places,  the best person we know with all ages of children, one of the best chefs we know, one of the most peaceful men we know, one of the most avid readers we know, one of the most dedicated exercising person we know, and an undeniably excellent husband, father and grandfather,

and enough is enough !

Happy, Happy, Happy 75th Birthday!  You the Man! 

Stay healthy and keep away from your local movie theater !

Love to you from Sandy and Frank Wasserman

Exhibit A 

Exhibit B