Dave has a lot of great friends that are here today who are very close to him. It is an
honor to be asked to express a few words on your behalf.Dave was one of those people who made friends with everybody, and had no enemies.
We all met Dave at different stages in our lives and remained friends regardless of how
frequently or infrequently we saw him. When I first met Dave he was a skinny little guy
with intense energy, who could joke his way out of trouble. In retrospect, I realize that he
had basically developed what amounted to a comedy routine, complete with goofy voices
and songs that he had re-worked with his own hilarious lyrics.Dave had a terrific knowledge of rock bands and when he found out I played guitar he
gave me the hey-spike routine. I remember him showing me that he had learned the notes
to LouieLouie in the music room at John Henderson. He then started bugging me to teach
him more. It was around that time that we formed a band consisting of Jeff's brother Randy,
Paul Stewart, Brian King and myself. It was Dave that had introduced us to Brian, who was
his neighbor on Donwood Dr. Brian has told me many hilarious stories of the adventures
he'd had with Dave before I knew them. All of us consider Dave to be a very good friend.
The other three are now living far away from Winnipeg and would otherwise be here today.Once you met Dave, his lust for life had you hooked. He could become friends with your
entire family, much like he did with the Gzebbs. Many of us know the story of Dave being
flung off the steps of the Gzebb household by Len at 2 in the morning, yet they too became
true friends later in life. Though some of us speculated that Mr. Gzebb was fearful of
retaliation once he saw how big Dave had become.You see Dave could get on your nerves when you disagreed with him. Dave and I argued
and bickered about everything. If you didn't know us you might think we were about
to fight. But we really enjoyed each other's company. All Dave's bravado and opinionated
behavior was a thin disguise for the fact that he truly cared about people.I remember one particular incident when I was over for a visit. Dave had a new cordless
drill that Shelly had given him for Christmas and he figured he would use it to scare me.
The battery was dead when he last tried it but apparently it had sat awhile and charged up
on its own. He had a screwdriver in the chuck and thought it would just give me a little
poke. When I walked in to his kitchen Dave took aim and began to drill into my leg as it
got caught in my pants. There was a look of horror on his face and immediate concern for
me. I could tell it was an accident, but he was really worried. We untangled it from my
pants and as soon as we assessed the wound to be relatively minor, he immediately began
joking about driller killer and giving me names like Peg Leg and Workbench.Injury was a risk you took hanging out with Dave but it was worth it because of the laughs.
Dave would never intentionally hurt anyone but trying to keep up with him skiing or operating
a moving vehicle was definitely dangerous to your health.On one of our previous adventures, we had decided to go out on the snowmobiles late one
evening. He was living on Foxgrove at the time and we could head out right from the yard.
Shortly after take off I discovered I hadn't properly fastened down the front cowling, when
the windshield flew off and hit me between the eyes. I had Dave inspect the injury and asked
him if we should turn back. He assured me it was a minor cut and we carried on. It didn't
occur to me that, Dave considered any injury that doesn't require major surgery to be a minor
cut. Hours later when we got back to Foxgrove I was horrified to discover a huge open gash
between my eyes. But we had had our fun and the wound eventually healed.Dave felt that having a good time was the most important thing.
He had a terrific sense of humor, an incredible wit and a fearless sense of adventure.
I particularly enjoyed his comical interpretation of events past. He had a unique ability to
see the funny side of human behavior. Most of those stories are like private jokes that only
the people who were there at the time can appreciate. It is these memories that are comforting
to me because I've always thought of Dave when similar situations arose, regardless of how
long it had been since I'd last seen him. We all have our story's to tell of the times we spent
with him. You simply don't forget a guy like Dave.He has been an important part of the lives of all of us here today. He is a Son, a Brother, an
Uncle, a Nephew, a Father and most of all, a great friend.I am sincerely thankful for having been one of Dave Harrisons friends.