Dave Halford was my closest friend at Highline High School. We had played trombone together in many ensembles since 5th grade at North Hill Elementary. When he graduated from HHS, Dave went into the U.S. Navy and after basic training-boot camp, attended and graduated from the Naval School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia.
Dave and I corresponded throughout our military service, and when the Army posted me to Ft. Eustis, Virginia, Dave and I visited Williamsburg and Civil War sites when on leave. In the summer of 1967, while we were both on leave, we spent a week camping, boating and snorkeling on Hood Canal, where we listened to the Six-Day War on the news over a little transistor radio, between our diving expeditions for oysters.
While serving on board the USS Shangri La, Dave, along with many other crew members, contracted a rare lung disease. Eventually this disability mandated discharge from the Navy, though Dave loved that service branch.
He lived in Jacksonville, Florida for about a year, married, then moved back to Seattle, He worked mostly as an ace motorcycle mechanic until his lung disability forced him into serious medical care. I visited him at the VA hospital on Beacon Hill, where we would play chess. I had moved to Alaska in 1973, but managed to see him a few times. I believe he passed away sometime in the fall of 1975. He left his wife and a young child.
Thank you for the entry on Dave Halford. Dave along with Larry Gulliatt, Bob Kearns and Ginger LaBrie were all from the same north hill neighborhood and as upper classmen we got to continue at Highline while every one else had to go to the "new" Mt. Rainer High.Lot of funny memories of school bus high jinks and later terrorizing the area in our first cars. I recall his passing in the academic year of 73-74 when I was attending junior college in Northern CA. My mother called to tell me. My mother worked at Highline CC in the HR dept. Dave, after the Navy and back in Seattle was very involved with the Jazz band at Highline CC and I recall my mother telling me there was a large turn out for his memorial service. His son would have been about three at the time.
Thanks, Steve. I still have recordings of Dave and me playing trombone duets together. There were three of us who graduated in 1965 that had the same first grade teacher at Angle Lake (bofore they switched us the the new Bow Lake Elementary for one year, and then to the new North Hill) - Miss Dilly. Martha Dena, Ray Rydberg and me. All three of us were at the 45th get together, and I hope we will all be there next summer.
Phil Munger
Dave Halford was my closest friend at Highline High School. We had played trombone together in many ensembles since 5th grade at North Hill Elementary. When he graduated from HHS, Dave went into the U.S. Navy and after basic training-boot camp, attended and graduated from the Naval School of Music in Norfolk, Virginia.
Dave and I corresponded throughout our military service, and when the Army posted me to Ft. Eustis, Virginia, Dave and I visited Williamsburg and Civil War sites when on leave. In the summer of 1967, while we were both on leave, we spent a week camping, boating and snorkeling on Hood Canal, where we listened to the Six-Day War on the news over a little transistor radio, between our diving expeditions for oysters.
While serving on board the USS Shangri La, Dave, along with many other crew members, contracted a rare lung disease. Eventually this disability mandated discharge from the Navy, though Dave loved that service branch.
He lived in Jacksonville, Florida for about a year, married, then moved back to Seattle, He worked mostly as an ace motorcycle mechanic until his lung disability forced him into serious medical care. I visited him at the VA hospital on Beacon Hill, where we would play chess. I had moved to Alaska in 1973, but managed to see him a few times. I believe he passed away sometime in the fall of 1975. He left his wife and a young child.
Steven Drury
Phil
Thank you for the entry on Dave Halford. Dave along with Larry Gulliatt, Bob Kearns and Ginger LaBrie were all from the same north hill neighborhood and as upper classmen we got to continue at Highline while every one else had to go to the "new" Mt. Rainer High.Lot of funny memories of school bus high jinks and later terrorizing the area in our first cars. I recall his passing in the academic year of 73-74 when I was attending junior college in Northern CA. My mother called to tell me. My mother worked at Highline CC in the HR dept. Dave, after the Navy and back in Seattle was very involved with the Jazz band at Highline CC and I recall my mother telling me there was a large turn out for his memorial service. His son would have been about three at the time.
Steve Drury HHS '65
Phil Munger
Thanks, Steve. I still have recordings of Dave and me playing trombone duets together. There were three of us who graduated in 1965 that had the same first grade teacher at Angle Lake (bofore they switched us the the new Bow Lake Elementary for one year, and then to the new North Hill) - Miss Dilly. Martha Dena, Ray Rydberg and me. All three of us were at the 45th get together, and I hope we will all be there next summer.