DAVID ALAN GEGUNDE

David Alan Gegunde passed away unexpectedly but peacefully from complications due to a cardiac episode on Friday, July 23, 2010, at his family's ranch in Auberry, California, at age 54. David was a graduate of Sierra Joint Union High School class of 1974, and attended Reedley College. While still in high school, David traveled and worked summers on cattle and sheep ranches in Montana and Wyoming. After Reedley College, he worked many years for the US Forest Service on trail construction and maintenance crews and as a seasonal firefighter. David spent two years working for PG&E on the line construction crew. In search of higher education, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Ag Business from California State University, Fresno and worked for awhile at Holcomb and Son Pump Company in Fresno, Ca. He also worked in the woods falling timber and operating heavy equipment for several private logging companies. For a time he drove his own log truck and had his own saw mill. He also volunteered time to help out the local community by serving on the Auberry Fire Department. David's many talents included firefighter, rancher, butcher, advisor and mentor, loving husband, and father. He loved the outdoors, especially the historic mountain logging and railroad camps and saw mills. He had a special passion for the high desert where he liked to grunge around ghost towns, abandoned mines, and old railroad camps, then sit around a camp fire and talk about the glory days of the old west. His straightforward philosophy, simple wit, and uncomplicated perspective on life always made for entertaining stories. He will be greatly missed. David was preceded in death by his father, Manuel L. Gegunde of Grants Pass, Or.; and mother, (Adele) Lorraine Compton Gegunde of Auberry, Ca. David is survived by his wife, Dana Harris Gegunde of Auberry, Ca.; brother, Frank L. Gegunde and fianceé, Robin Velasquez of Sanger, Ca.; son, James Gegunde; grandson Drake of Auberry, Ca.; daughter and son-in-law, Glenda and Manuel Valdivia; and grandchildren, Manny and Elaina of Exeter, Ca.; stepmother, Barbara Gegunde; and stepsister, Cheryl Johnston Olheiser of Medford, Or. (formerly of Auberry); and many nieces and nephews. Services are pending and will be held in the spring of 2011. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that remembrances be made to the Auberry Fire Department.