Gone West

Hi, Folks,

I wanted to let you know that my brother, David, passed away August 30th in
Columbus, OH after a three-year struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease).
Dave was a 500-hour instrument rated pilot, and an amazing guy
(http://www.davechilcoat.com). We had a great time together with our other
brother Ed in 2005 at Oshkosh
(http://www.geocities.com/viewptmd/3BrotherswP40.jpg), a trip we had been
talking about for years, but decided that we had to make before Dave was too
weak to do it. His illness had progressed too far for him to travel this
year. This article appeared in the Columbus Dispatch the Sunday after
Dave's passing:
http://www.dispatch.com/features-sto...903-B1-02.html.
It's nice (and sadly surprising) that a reporter can "get it".

In addition to his website, Dave touched an amazing number of lives in other
ways. He originally moved to Columbus to start Young Life, a Christian
evangelism organization that works with teenagers. As Area Director of
Young Life in the metropolitan area, he brought thousands of teenagers into
contact, and relationships, with Jesus. As part of that work, he also got
to know many hundreds of people in the business and professional communities
of Columbus. He touched these lives as well, and when he moved on from Young
Life, to life insurance, venture capital, and finally the law, these
relationships strengthened both professionally and personally, and he was
able to continue to touch their lives.

More than 1,500 people turned up at the two days of visitation to express
their sorrow and to offer support to our family, and nearly 1,000 people
attended his memorial service, which had to be held in a bigger church than
Dave and Beth's already large one. People flew in from as far away as
London to say goodby. Susie and I, who have not lived nearby for many
years, were both staggered and humbled by the outpouring of love and shared
sorrow.

Dave's daughter, who is operatically trained at the Manhatten School of
Music, and who has recently been breaking into the Christian pop music scene
(http://www.jennifershawmusic.com/), had written a beautiful song, called
"Godspeed", which she was able to let Dave hear before he died, and which
was played at the memorial service. Jenny knew that she would never be able
to get through it live, so she had taped it in the studio a few weeks
earlier. Unfortunately, it's not on her website, but I'm trying to get her
to put it up on Dave's.

Dave's middle son, Michael, is following in his father's footsteps in Young
Life, and was recently named Metropolitan Director of the ministry in
Columbus. Dave's oldest son, Jeff, is a lawyer in Dave's firm, and
specializes in Sports management and representation. Dave's youngest son,
Andy, is a student at Ohio State.

Dave, like brother Ed and I, are all aviation freaks. Even as he
deteriorated, we continued to do hangar flying and share our passion for
flying. Dave missed flying and golf more than anything.

Sorry if this note has major religious overtones, and I hope nobody is
offended, but Dave wanted more than anything simply to be "God's Man". He
succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. I'll miss him.


--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)