In Memory of David Gulassa
by Raymond Rideau

Throughout this past week in reflecting about David's death I suppose the thoughts and questions that came to my mind were very much like those that have come to many of you. I struggled to comprehend how someone who was so vibrant, so strong, so full of life, could suddenly and silently be gone forever. In thinking about all that David had accomplished, I wondered what marvelous things would he have done in the years and decades that should have stretched out before him. I wondered how we can possibly make sense of a tragedy that is so unexpected and so irreversible. I have thought as well about how incapable I am of easing the pain of his family and his many friends and colleagues who loved and admired him. I have thought about how much he added to our lives and about how much we have all lost in loosing him.

While it is clearly an inexplicable tragedy that David's life was taken before his star had reached it's zenith, we must remember that the measure of a man's life is not tallied by the number of his days but rather by how well he lives his life each day. And by that reckoning, David had an extraordinarily full life indeed. David was a boy who grew into a man with a zest for life and a love of adventure. He challenged every boundary, he pushed every envelope, he stretched every limitation. And in doing so he constantly grew in confidence and ability. And while David's personal accomplishments were in many ways remarkable, what truly distinguished him was that he possessed the capacity to infuse in all those around him the confidence that they too could accomplish the improbable, if indeed, not the impossible. David was a Pied Piper who made everyone grateful for the opportunity to be on the journey with him no matter how wild or unpredictable the ride. In the poetic way of the Irish we can say of David that he could charm the eagle from the wren and the fox from the hare.

There are countless others far more qualified than I who have and will attest to his acclaim as an artist and designer. And while I admired his work, indeed who could not, what I found even more admirable was his character. David has been lauded for his ability as an artist David to transform the environments in which people lived and worked and played and prayed. But by the means of his spirit, his vision, his humor, his wisdom, his goofiness, his unrelenting determination, his courage, his passion and, perhaps most of all his heart, he accomplished again and again something of far greater importance than the transformation of space … David transformed the lives of nearly everyone he met. While one could hardly say that David was reluctant to step into the spotlight he was so very generous about pulling others into the light with him. It mattered little to David if you were famous or unknown, rich or poor, old or young, skilled or clumsy. He possessed the ability and more importantly, he possessed the desire to touch deeply whoever he was with.

Of all the attributes that David possessed, humility was probably not one of them. David often gave us the impression that he delighted in his own company. I believe David would be greatly amused at listening in on the hundreds of conversations that have centered around him this past week. And as much as he has well earned the praises that have been and will be heaped upon him he would be quick to tell you that he was by no means an entirely self-made man. If David could he would be quick to tell you that the seeds that grew to fruition here in Seattle were planted not by his own hand. He would want you to know, as certainly he knew, that in addition to his innate gifts and talents, David had the great good fortune to be born of parents and into a family of brothers and sisters who from the moment of his birth until the final day of his life loved and supported and nurtured him in every way possible. If he could David would tell you that it was his mother who taught him as she taught all of her sons and daughters to see the world through the eyes of an artist. She instilled in him, as she did in them all that he could take what was ordinary and transform it into a thing of beauty that would give delight not only to the eye but also to the heart and to the soul. If he could, David would tell you that his father taught him both by word and example that through dedication and hard work coupled always with fairness and integrity he could gain self- respect and the admiration of others. And together his parents instilled in him the self-confidence and the conviction that all of his dreams could and would be realized.

Less than two years ago David achieved what was truly his greatest accomplishment. He and Tracy created the miracle of Eva. And his reward for this was that together Tracy, in her gentle, sensitive, strong and powerful way, and Eva, simply by being Eva, brought forth in David the very best of who he was. They brought out in David qualities that I suspect surprised no one more than David himself. And though the loss of Tracy's partner in life and Eva's father can never be compensated, I know that they will remain forever at heart of David's family.

In closing I would like to paraphrase the words of Ted Kennedy spoken at the funeral of his nephew John. David has gone to be with those who loved him in life and preceded him in death. He is in a place where there will never be an end to love. He was lost on that troubled night but we will always wake for him, so that his time, which was not doubled, but cut in half, will live forever in our memory, and in our beguiled and broken hearts. He had every gift but length of years. We who have loved him from the day he was born and watched the remarkable man he became, now bid him farewell. God bless you David. We love you and we always will.