David was born in Chicago, Illinois. He was the first child to his parents
Curtis and Florence. His three sisters followed in the next few years,
Diana, Donna, and Debbie. Eventually, his family moved in with his
mother's parents who he adored. Grandpa and Grandma Schmidt gave
him the love and guidance he would hold with him his entire life. Life
in Chicago was at times chaotic, but when David went to his
grandparents farm in Paris, Tennessee, he was in Heaven on Earth.
David loved to hunt with his grandfather, Pa, and learned about
cooking from his grandmother, Grandma. Time with his two sets of
grandparents were some of his most cherished memories of his
childhood.
After high school, he was drafted into the military where he served his
country as a nuclear weapons technician during the Vietnam War. The
recruiter had asked him what he wanted to do in the military, to which
he replied, "Anything that keeps me out of combat!". With his vast
intelligence and aptitude for science, he served in South Korea for a
time before coming back to the United States.
Once he was out of the military for several years, David became
friends with Lucy Hicks who became like a mother to him and treated
him like her own son. She convinced him to move out to Oregon with
her and in the winter of 1979 they drove across the country together.
David arrived in Oregon on New Year's Day 1980. When asked about
his journey to Oregon, he would reply, "My life began when I moved
to Oregon January 1st, 1980".
In the next year, he met the love of his life, Kathy. They met at a
church class when David stopped to pet a Golden Retriever that was in
a car in the parking lot. Kathy came out to the parking lot a few
minutes later. David had loved dogs his whole life and it was fitting
that he would find the love of his life like this. In Spring of 1981, David
and Kathy were married.