We got to celebrate David Hatton’s life today up in Glennville Ca. I was very blessed to be able to attend this awesome Memorial Service. We got a chance to listen to some neat stories about Dave and his life, and hear & sing some of his favorite songs! Truly a blessing to be a part of this special day! Sort of a happy/ sad time though. He was in love with our Lord and Savior and we know that he is singing to the Majesty now and is in a much better place that life here. However, its so sad because we know we won’t get to see him here again. I look forward to the day that we will get to see him again in our REAL home! Dave and Denise have been part of the “Holladay” family for over 13 years. They became very good friends (I guess I’d even say BEST FRIENDS) with my parents. They would have a Tuesday date night every week when they lived here in Fillmore. I remember going swimming when we were younger out at their Bardsdale House and then when they moved in town we would walk to their house a lot and just drop in to visit. All of us girls and Mom would having many evening walks up to their house just to pop in and say “hello”!
I wanted to get up and share today at the service but I was getting choked up just listening to everything, I didn’t think that I could do it! A funny story (years ago) …. I was very stubborn and said for years “I’m never gonna get married”. Dave, would always laugh at me and say… oh yes you will. One night we were all together and we got on that subject again. He said “I’ll bet you will be married by the time you are 30” and I said “NOPE, I’m not getting married”. I went as far as drawing up a contract that we both signed (still have it), saying I would pay him $100 or he’d pay me. Well…. I turned 21 in August and got married the following month in September. 
Needless to say, I lost the bet!
On our wedding day I presented him with $200 (we had actually shook hands and raised the bet to $200 at one point). At our reception he did “pass the shoe” and gave us the money for our honeymoon. It was a fun memory that I will always have.
April 2nd, 1999 Brian and I got engaged. After we stopped by my house to share 
the news with my family, we went up to Dave and Denise’s house and shared with them!
They were just like family! I will always have fond memories of Dave. Our family included them in on big gatherings we had. Dave even had his SPOT at our table! I always loved getting to sit next to him! He was so much fun! We have this ELF tradition (you can read about it here and Dave and Denise got to be “elfed” on our tree because they became part of the family!
We loved when they would join us for our Christmas Wassel party.
His voice was amazing! Such power in his voice! Brian and I both wanted him to be the “singer” at our wedding! He got laryngitis the week of our wedding. 
We prayed him through it and God blessed him with the voice to sing on our wedding day! It was amazing! We really wanted our wedding to be about the Lord and giving all glory to Him, and centered around the Lord. Dave did such a great job singing and giving us all the chance to worship! He sang “The Lord’s Prayer” along with a few others and it was beautiful! Dave is going to be tremendously missed by A LOT of people here on earth!
However, we can rest assured that he is having a blast singing his heart out and worshiping our LORD AND SAVIOR in heaven!! Can’t wait to see him again one day when I get to go home!
At Lins Chinese, a favorite place for the Hatton’s and Holladay’sClick on any picture to enlarge…
I put a few of the scrapbook pages from 1998…. A few fun random shots with Dave/ Denise in them.
Wasn’t it just the best service? Amazing! Growing up I was at the Hatton house nearly every day and many many nights. had so many memories too but could not share because I knew I’d break down. One thing I always remembered was that Dave had a bumper sticker on his car that said “Caution Driver singing”. It was so true, when we’d drive with him he’d sng…with his eyes closed sometimes! LOL
It was a beautiful service. I too wanted to share. The first time I actually met Dave and Denise was last June at the cowboy church up there in Glennville. Later that day at the cabin, Pop asked Dave and I to sing a song. I think he wanted us to both come down to his church in the city and sing together. We sang “In the Garden”. It was a blessing to be able to sing with him even in a casual setting like that. I would have liked to sing that there, but I’m not sure if I could have. I guess God knows what we can handel.
Looks like it was a very nice service and you have some really special memories.
Thank you for sharing. Beautiful post Spring!