Posted by Tricia Sharp
 
Have you ever met someone that you connected with right away? Somehow your humor is aligned and there's that *spark* that makes you feel like you've met that person before?  When David Bowlin joined our Rotary Club in 2014, he came with some amazing ideas of how to help the Anacortes Community. He transferred his membership from Snohomish where he started a fundraiser during Halloween “The Haunted Forest”. He quickly got involved with Winter Wonderland and bought a WhoVille mayor outfit to spruce up the event. So in 2015 when he told everyone about his diagnosis of stage 4 stomach cancer, we just happen to be breaking down Shipwreck Festival and our hearts dropped. 
 
This guy. This amazing person that took many Rotarians and their friends up in his Cessna plane, to Seahawk games, and donated towards the Anacortes Family Center was about to go through something that would occupy his life for the next four years. As his Rotarian family, we embraced him and his wife Diane, with acceptance, humor, weekly meals and above all LOVE. To let them know they were not alone; many of our Rotarians have been through different types of chemo treatments and know how exhausting it can be. We could relate to what they were going through and what they needed. Normalcy not pity. A regular dinner hanging out with friends. A funny email joke that Bill Rabel forwarded to him. A friendly phone call that if his refrigerator was running then he better go catch it. A ride to the doctor in Seattle was always a blessing. Back scratches that would send goose bumps up the spine. A look—to let him know we'll see him again on the other side.
 
On July 27th, David left this planet and the universe gained a really cool guy. He will always be remembered as a man with a full heart, full of love, and full of truth—that's what made him an amazing Rotarian. On October 26th, his Rotarian family went to his Celebration of Life ceremony at the Skyline Beach Club. As his family took a private boat to send David's ashes back to the earth off the shore of Washington Park, one of his favorite places in Anacortes, a group of dolphins guided them; David was with them as they took that moment to lay him to rest. We shared awesome memories of David and toasted in his memory. "To David!" 
 
Godspeed Daveed