# David Simmons - Rest in Peace **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2008, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089 "2008-04-20T05:10:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/81 "2008-04-20T19:19:53Z")
My condolences. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/82 "2008-04-20T19:29:16Z")
Very sorry to hear this. My condolences to the family. As others have said, he is certainly missed. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/83 "2008-04-20T19:46:11Z")
Rest well, David, and thank you. My condolences to Tim, Anne, and Wilma; and to the others in David’s circle of family and friends. You are in my thoughts and prayers. ---
**Author:** ![Merhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Merhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/84 "2008-04-20T20:24:26Z")
Anne, Tim, and the rest of the family – please accept my condolences on your loss. I certainly didn’t know David well, but there aren’t enough good words to explain how much he gave to us here. **David** , you will be missed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/85 "2008-04-20T21:05:03Z")
Goodbye, David. You fought more than your share of ignorance. We’ll try to take up the slack. _sniff_ ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/86 "2008-04-20T21:11:52Z")
Thank you Tim and Anne. Please extend Kathy’s and my condolences to Wilma and the rest of the family. I was priveleged to have met David - and it’s one I won’t ever forget. One hell of a man. Damn it, why is the screen suddenly all blurry? ETA: Will there be any services? Any place we could send flowers or contributions to David’s favorite charity or something? ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/87 "2008-04-20T21:23:53Z")
**David Simmons** was always a sage and moderate voice, offering counsel from a deep reserve of aged wisdom; I was always pleased to find myself in agreement with him, and on the rare occasions that I was not, his words made me reconsider my opinion. He was a gentleman and a scholar in the truest sense, and I daresay that his passing leaves a void for everyone who knew him. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/88 "2008-04-20T21:27:44Z")
From the greatest of all aviation writers, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, in _Wind, Sand, and Stars (Terre des Hommes):_ > [@](#): > > [P]ilots are widely dispersed over the face of the world. They land alone at scattered and remote airports, isolated from each other in the manner of sentinels between whom no words can be spoken. It needs the accident of journeyings to bring together here or there the dispersed members of this great professional family. > > Round the table in the eving, at Casablanca, at Dakar, at Buenos Aires, we take up conversations interrupted by years of silence, we resume friendships to the accompaniment of buried memories. And then we are off again. > > Thus is the earth at once a desert and a paradise, rich in secret hidden gardens, gardens inaccessible, but to which the craft leads us ever back, one day or another. Life may scatter us and keep us apart; it may prevent us from thinking very often of one another; but we know that our comrades are somewhere “out there” – where, one can hardly say – silent, forgotten, but deeply faithful. And when our path crosses theirs, they greet us with such manifest joy, shake us so gaily by the shoulders! Indeed we are accustomed to waiting. > > Bit by bit, nevertheless, it comes over us that we shall never again hear the laughter of our friend, that this one garden is forever locked against us. And at that moment begins our true mourning, which, though it may not be rending, is yet a little bitter. For nothing, in truth, can replace that companion. Old friends cannot be created out of hand. Nothing can match the treasure of common memories, of trials endured together, of quarrels and reconciliations and generous emotions. It is idle, having planted an acorn in the morning, to expect that afternoon to sit in the shade of the oak. > > So life goes on. For years we plant the seed, we feel ourselves rich; and then come other years when time does its work and our plantation is made sparse and thin. One by one, our comrades slip away, deprive us of their shade. None of us here had the chance to know David all that long, but we will all sorely miss sitting in the shade of his great oak. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/89 "2008-04-20T21:49:36Z")
Thanks for letting us know, Tim. Rest in peace, David. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/90 "2008-04-20T22:01:26Z")
Please allow me to add my respect as well. I will add my prayers for the family. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/91 "2008-04-20T22:06:13Z")
My condolences to his family. He was certainly a hell of a fine poster here, but it’s also very clear he made a lot of contributions in many ways and in many places over the course of his life. ---
**Author:** ![LouisB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/92 "2008-04-20T22:20:07Z")
He was a good man in every sense of the word; the world will be a little more empty without him. My sincere condolences to his family. I wish I could have known him personally. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/93 "2008-04-20T22:25:33Z")
Thanks for letting us know. My sympathies to you and your family. I hope and wish I might ever be able to have a portion of the courage, resolve and serenity David showed in his last months and weeks, should I be faced with such troubles. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/94 "2008-04-20T22:36:36Z")
My sympathies. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/95 "2008-04-20T22:59:53Z")
It has all been said, so I will just leave it at, "He will be missed’. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/96 "2008-04-20T23:27:57Z")
My condolences and sympathies to all those that knew him. It was a pleasure to know him, and he will be missed. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/97 "2008-04-20T23:40:40Z")
Bye, Dave. And thanks… ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2008, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/98 "2008-04-20T23:58:55Z")
Anne, Tim- thank you so much for sharing him with us. I am at a loss, and my boys wonder why I’m crying- isn’t the computer always fun? 🙂 Strength and peace to you all. Debbie ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/99 "2008-04-21T00:24:09Z")
It’s always sudden. He was a man that was interested in new things. Always looking forward and not back. R.I.P **David Simmons**. You were the real deal. ---
**Author:** ![evangelinagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@evangelinagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/evangelinagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089/100 "2008-04-21T01:04:19Z")
My prayers are with you and your family, Tim. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/david-simmons-rest-in-peace/446089.md?page=6)