David S. Dillman, 86, passed away Nov. 13, 2011 at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. He had throat cancer and died peacefully on his 24th wedding anniversary with his wife and family by his side.
Dave was born in Ogden, Iowa on Nov. 8, 1925, the third child of Scott and Betty Dillman.
He participated in band and all high school sports. Dave graduated from Ogden High School in 1950.
Dave then enlisted in the Army and was briefly stationed in Scotland, Wales, and England. He was assigned to Plans Group G, 101st Airborne and was with the first Americans into Berlin.
After the war Dave earned his engineering degree from Iowa State University in then worked for McDonald Douglass in Los Angeles, Calif. While living in Santa Monica he met and married Nancy Ring and his first child Scott was born.
Later in the Seattle area they had Steve, Holly and Chris. Dave worked for the Boeing Co. for 30 years. He worked on all of the Boeing planes in his time except the 737. In 1987 when he retired he was a supervising engineer in payloads for the 767.
Dave and JoEtta married on a Friday the 13th in 1987 thus added seven other children, Lauri Jo, Herb, Jan, Jen, Morris, Michael and David, most of who were in college or beyond, to their family. Dave and JoEtta lived at Totem Lake.
After they were married and living in Kirkland, Boeing recalled Dave to work in London. They lived in London most of 1989 and part of 1990. They lived on a flat in the Thames in London.
Then returning from London they knew they wanted to live by the water and moved to Possession Shores in Clinton on Whidbey Island, where they enjoyed the friendship of many other islanders. Dave really loved the views and all of his island life and never wanted to leave the island.
He was predeceased by his older brother Howard Dillman and his sister Dorothy Clark. Besides the children named his survivors include 18 grandchildren.
A memorial will be held Saturday, Nov. 26 at Useless Bay Golf and Country Club. Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society.