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David P. Stone, 77

David P. Stone, 77, was born Sept. 25, 1940, to Harry and Frances Stone at Sacred Heart Hospital in Spokane, Wash., and passed away from pancreatic cancer on July 11, 2018.

Dave grew up on dairy ranches in Otis Orchard, Wash., and Superior, Mont., where he learned to detest cows and all the chores that were involved in their upkeep (which usually involved shoveling something). The family moved to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in 1952 and he was frequently heard to comment how happy he was that he would never ever see another cow.

Dave graduated from Coeur d’Alene High School in 1958 and briefly attended North Idaho College before becoming disenchanted with it. The urge to be anywhere else except where he was prompted him to join the United States Army in early 1959. After basic training at Fort Ord, Calif., he went to Fort Gordon, Ga., for 26 weeks of training in radio and telephone equipment repair.

From there it was off to Schweinfurt, Germany, from January, 1960 to May, 1962. He was assigned to a direct support maintenance platoon that was attached to a battalion of the 3rd Infantry Division. While there he spent an exorbitant amount of time on field duty, repaired a lot of radios, ate a lot of C-rations, drank a lot of good German beer and dined on a lot of healthy German food. The highpoint of the tour of duty was seeing the Berlin Wall going up. Tense times. He was discharged in May 1962 with the rank of Sgt. (ES).

Dave returned to North Idaho College in the fall of 1962, much more motivated than before, and made the Dean’s list. He was always grateful to the military for giving him confidence, motivation and a direction in life. After NIC, he took a temporary job with the Department of Metallurgical Research of Kaiser Aluminum. The temporary job lasted 34 years, 30 of which were in Pleasanton, Calif. He started out as a junior research technician in the mechanical metallurgy group and retired as a project leader in the Micromill Instrumentation and Control group.

Dave retired from Kaiser in 1998 and moved back to Coeur d’Alene. There he met a beautiful lady, Nancy Fountaine, at a mutual friend’s birthday party on Dec. 27, 1998. He proposed on Valentine’s Day six weeks later and they married on Aug. 7, 1999. Together they built their home on 2.5 acres on the east side of Lake Coeur d’Alene.

After retirement, Dave took his instrumentation knowledge and worked as a consultant with Kaiser Trentwood for two years and then for Alcoa, in Sparks, Nev., for three years. Deciding that was enough, he had the good sense to retire for good.

Unfortunately, shortly after coming home from Sparks, Nancy was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and went through six years of treatment before passing away on Dec. 10, 2010. Amazingly enough, under the circumstances, those six years were filled with a lot of good times. She was a very strong woman and faced her illness with strength and courage.

Dave was constantly reminded of that strength after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2017. He could feel her presence by his side during the rough times.

At his request, Dave does not want a funeral service. However it would please him if friends got together and drank a few toasts (profane and disrespectful preferred) to his memory.

Donations on his behalf to the American Cancer Society would be most appropriate to both his and Nancy’s memory. Someday this insidious disease will be beaten.

Special, heartfelt thanks to Dave’s dearest friend and former boss, Rick Bruski. Rick opened his home to Dave at the time of his diagnosis and was by his side the entire journey. Dave and his family will always be grateful to Rick’s kindness. Hospice House and staff, Anna, Vicky, Mikki, and Andy — you are angels, we are all very thankful for your care.