David James McLaughlin

David James McLaughlin, 85, of Essex, passed away quietly at home with his ex-wife Terri by his side on Friday, June 20, 2025.

To understand David, let him tell you a bit about who he was in his own words, in response to receiving a compliment from a friend:

"As for being generous and good-natured, it seems to be the right thing to do as well as being required by those few codes of conduct that merit any significant amount of attention. Being generous, that is, being good-natured is another matter altogether. Of all the philosophical maxims, rules, regulations, and creeds flooding the world with bullshit, only a few stand out as making any sense whatsoever. First among them, and the simplest, is the Golden Rule. Nearly anybody with a double-digit IQ can understand it and if 2% of our idiot population would attempt to live by it, the millennium would become a possibility. I'm not saying that I live by it, or even come close for that matter, but it is a lofty ideal to have hanging out there. I try to give it a half-assed attempt some of the time. It's pretty much the limit of what one individual can do without getting on a giant trip. Second is a Catholic prayer that I came across as a young man and found to be useful as well as beautiful. It is the Prayer of St. Francis, probably the only thing in all of Christianity worthy of retention. Finally, there is the Precepts of the Gurus, a 50-page or so collection of maxims from the Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines book. Very heady stuff. If you haven't seen it, I have copies".

Born October 27, 1939 in Muskegon, Michigan to Florence Eugenia (Petersen) McLaughlin and John Francis McLaughlin, David grew up in North Muskegon, Michigan, and after graduating from the local high school, where he had success in both his studies and multiple team sports, including four years of track (although he always complained later that he never could catch his good friend, the fastest man he knew, Don Berry) David headed to Michigan's Upper Peninsula to attend the Michigan College of Mining and Technology, also known as Michigan Tech, graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Physics in 1961.A month after his college graduation, he was renting a second floor room of a house on a tobacco farm in East Hartford, Connecticut, working at the aircraft engine company, Pratt & Whitney, as an Analytical Engineer.

In spite of being, as he later would refer to himself, hopelessly midwestern, in the winter of 1962 he heard the call to "Go West young man", and packed up for Sunnyvale, California where a calibration lab engineer's job awaited him at the Lockheed Aircraft Company. David was in awe of the jet engine, calling them "the eighth wonder of the world."

He worked in various roles as an electronics engineer until 1968 when he began what became a long and highly successful career as a Silicon Valley hardware and software Technical Writer. One of his proudest projects was producing the technical manuals for the pilot's ("heads-up") cockpit display of the F/18 fighter jet, a task he shared with his good friend and fellow tech writer, Julio Ortiz of Sunnyvale, CA. David could test and analyze circuit boards himself, and using engineering schematics and related source data, describe circuit theory, write up timing diagrams, produce equipment descriptions, configuration or operating instructions, diagnostic flowcharts, maintenance procedures, you name it; and he was good at it. From vacuum tubes to transistors, to integrated circuits, to microprocessors and beyond, he saw and understood them all. His career spanned the most fertile years of, no longer the Valley of Heart's Delight, but the new Silicon Valley, when tomato patches and fruit orchards made way for multistory buildings named Fairchild, Intel, Apple, Microsoft, etc. David was, indisputably, in the thick of and contributed to the largest boom of technological advancement the world had ever seen.

On his own time, he was an avid reader and seeker for knowledge, no matter how esoteric. He kept an enormous and wide-ranging book collection, and became friends with Arthur Young, inventor of the Bell helicopter, founder of the Institute for the Study of Consciousness (ISC) who lived in Berkeley California. David read all of Arthur's books and would attend Arthur's lectures at the Institute, but his favorite activity was discussing physics theory with a peer who could sympathize, and possibly shed light on some of its most perplexing theoretical assumptions and unanswered questions.

Another of his passions was music. Dave was a big Buddy Holly fan and respected rock and roll until it was just called rock. (He regarded the War of 1812 and the 1960's British invasion with equal contempt.) He also liked baroque classical music and much of what came from the folk music revival of the 50's and 60's, most notably the Kingston Trio, but it was traditional American bluegrass that ultimately trumped them all. Earl Scruggs' groundbreaking banjo performance of "Cumberland Gap" on a vinyl LP called Foggy Mountain Banjo, released in June of 1961, is where it started. Recently reminiscing about what came to be a pivotal time in his life, Dave said he had played that record so many times, the walls and hallways of the Sunnyvale apartment he lived in at the time are likely still resonating.

It wasn't long before David became a regular at local bluegrass venues and festivals, and he eventually came to know and befriend virtually every bluegrass musician who performed in Northern California, and their fans. He was a stalwart supporter of the genre not just by his presence but by his generous hospitality. Whether at his home or his festival campsite, he shared his creature comforts with anyone and everyone who stopped by. The evening of the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, when all methods of communication were down, Dave's house became the de facto meeting place for musicians and others who either couldn't get home, or who needed the reassurance of friendly faces that were always in abundant supply there. He was the hub of the bluegrass community, and almost nothing made him happier than being surrounded by people singing and playing instruments in the impromptu jam sessions known to commonly break out in his living room and yard. When some of his most frequent houseguests decided to form a band, David, in good fun, was named their agent, and they even adopted the name that he suggested, The Mountain Creatures. Before long he had hundreds of tee shirts printed up for band members and everyone else he could think of, and to his last day, frequently would wear one of his Mountain Creature shirts, which always brought him great joy.

In addition to being an engineer, an intellectual and a music connoisseur, David had an extraordinary knowledge of cars, racecar drivers, boxing and professional team sports including football, hockey and baseball. He seemed to have an encyclopedic memory of who's who, and was everybody's local expert on car engines, and individual and team sports statistics. David's uncle, Hilliard Gates, commonly dubbed the founding father of Indiana sports broadcasting, was the actual radio announcer for the 1954 Indiana state high school basketball championship upon which the movie "Hoosiers" with Gene Hackman is based. David enjoyed recalling a long conversation he had had with his uncle back when he was just a boy. In closing, his Uncle Hildy told him that he really knew his sports. That acknowledgment was a source of pride for David throughout his life.

There isn't enough paper, nor words to describe the totality of a man, and no two of us see another in just the same way, but it might be said in summary, that David McLaughlin was well loved by many and he loved them back. He laughed with the abandon of a child, was the consummate curmudgeon and cursed like a sailor with equal abandon. He was extremely intelligent with broad-ranging interests, and a wonderful conversationalist and hard worker; reliable and generous to a fault. We already miss him very much and will until we meet again.

David is survived by his ex-wife Terri McLaughlin of Essex, MA and several very good friends from all parts of the country, his sister, Cathie Ferro and her husband Anthony (Tony), of Johnson City, TN, as well as many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers, John Scott McLaughlin, who is survived by his wife, Ann, of North Muskegon, MI; and Joseph Eugene McLaughlin, who is survived by his wife, Debbie, of Palm Springs, CA.

A celebration of his life will be held at a later date.

Harry Verderche, Dave.

Arrangements by Campbell Funeral Home, 6 High Street, Ipswich. Condolences at www.campbellfuneral.com