Feb 8, 2011

Since I just made an entry about best friends I feel it appropriate to add another story of another of my best friends in life from my history short stories collection.

Truly A friend: Dave Nemelka

I was in a ward with the Nemelka’s for several years after a ward boundary change placed us in the boundaries of the Mapleton 1^st Ward. After the ward change I was called to be the Scoutmaster of Troop 66 in that ward. I ended up being the Scoutmaster for 5 years before being called into the Bishopric as second counselor.

While I was the Scoutmaster I worked hard to take the boys to the Eagle Rank. I planned the program so that I could take my sons to that rank and thus along with them the other boys. One such boy was Mike Nemelka son of David Nemelka. Mike wanted to be the youngest scout to reach the rank of Eagle. I had a lot of the other older young men nearly to their eagle rank but some had stalled and so I had a number of them that were close but not yet there. Anyway I took  Mike and planned a program that would get him to the next rank as soon as the time was done. We went hiking and camping and even had the father’s go one time when I couldn’t just so we could keep them on track.

There time flew by quickly and one time I arrived home to find a Motor home parked in the driveway with a note in it that it was given to me. Well Dave later explained that he had bought a new one and would like to give that one to me. Well I decided to use it primarily for scouting. We took it out to the sanddunes and up to Fairview for snow caves. I used it for a place to put sick boys and a place to haul several of them at times. Now I wouldn’t be able to use it since everyone would have to have a seat belt. I took it to Bristlecone camp for a summer camp one year where we worked prior to the camp for nine months to get twenty merit badges ready so that we could compete the outdoor requirements during one week. On Friday night of that week Dave and the rest of the troop committee came up to camp and we had a very large Board of Review to complete the last part of the process. Dave as the committee chair was not only there for that camp but would give updates each week in Quorum Meetings. We did a number of eagle projects and worked on merit badges as often as possible. Finally the day came and we had 11 boys ready to receive their Eagle rank. And Mike was the youngest of them having reached the goal right on schedule. We had a live eagle at the eagle Court and everything planned in such a way that it only took an hour to get all of the program completed.

The scouting program wasn’t the end of Dave’s help either. Later after Signetics had shut down and I had worked at Kara Chocolates and then began working as an Insurance Agent he came to me after church one day and said “You are hardly the kind of person to sell insurance, you are too honest”. We later had several discussions and one evening he gave us a car that we badly needed. His children had bought a new car for him and so he passed his on to us. We used that car for several years before an accident on the freeway totaled it and we had to get a new car.

He also helped me to learn the internet and at one point was even involved in starting a company called OWOL or One World On Line. It was a multilevel company that established web pages on line and helped me to get my photography business started. I have greatly appreciated all that he has done for us over the years and his gracious friendship. He helped us out more than once just when we were needing it most and gave renewed meaning to being there when the Lord needed someone to work through to give us aid.

A final tribute to a wonderful life and friend.

On February 8, 2011 Dave took his life after battling some apparent brain disorders for several months. I will miss his calls and queries about my family and how they are doing. It is hard for me to understand the stress that must have taken over his mind after literally years of helping others to avoid that very process. He was very kind and was also very smart. He took me with him on several scout activities with the boys and was always a great example to them. I will always cherish his memory and the memories of the many talks that we had through the years. I know there were many nights that he was up all through the night counseling others and then after sleeping a few short hours was into the shower taking a long shower while talking on the phone helping someone else or planning something else that would benefit many others in their lives. I know because I spent some of those hour and shared was on the other end of several of those early morning shower calls. He couldn’t let his mind rest and possibly that was the final cause of his unrest. I truly grew to love that man and did not always totally agree with his views knew that he would listen to my counsel as well as giving counsel to me. Recently a young man was killed in a traffic accident leaving football practice. The fellow had almost completed his Eagle and Dave and I spent quite a bit of time discussing the possibility of presenting that Eagle after completing his Eagle project which was the only thing he hadn’t completed. I couldn’t quite feel that was right and after discussing it with Dave he finally understood my concern and knew there was a better way to honor the life of that young man. Thank You Dave for all of your love. A child is not only raised by a village but a village will never forget those who were so instrumental in the growth of many of those villagers.