David Waldon

David Waldon

Sept. 13, 1956 - Nov. 4, 2016

David Waldon passed away on Nov. 4, 2016, surrounded by his loving family, after a long and courageous battle against multiple, rare neurological disorders.

David was born in Reno, NV and moved to Stockton when he was three. He attended Victory School, Tyler School, Webster Middle School, Stagg High, and San Joaquin Delta College later in life, earning three Associates of Arts Degrees with highest honors at the age of 51.

He was a lifelong history buff, with a great interest in politics and the workings of government. He read voraciously in many subjects. He was a passionate music collector and amassed nearly 4,000 vinyl albums from the 1950s through 2000s and played a mean air guitar. He loved old movies, especially film noir and 50s monster flicks.

Dive bars throughout Stockton, the Delta, and in the Mother Lode were regular haunts, where he rubbed elbows with the locals and palavered with strangers.

A diehard Cardinals baseball and football fan, David was a walking sports trivia encyclopedia. He coached both daughters, Tanya and Veronica, through Stockton Parks and Recreation Softball until they reached high school. After they graduated, he started coaching girls' softball with Paul Sporleder at Stagg High and

later at Edison High School.

He had a great fondness for cats and dogs, with a large menagerie at home, and a penchant for feeding and rescuing strays. David always rooted for the underdog and advocated for the oppressed. This extended even to the planet, which he

revered.

David was a gardener for more than 30 years who discovered writing in his 40s. His talent flared quickly, and he won The Record's 55-Word Writing Competition multiple times, and his work, 55 and Counting, was published by Tuleburg Press. He wrote in many genres and much of his work is still to be edited and published. That task will be left to his wife of 36 years, Valerie, and his two daughters. David met Valerie at the Rancho Seco Recreation Area in 1978 and married two years later. It was a nuclear

reaction.

Preceded by parents Alex and Carol Waldon, best friends Bill Maples and Mitch Swygert, and devoted canine companion, Butch. Survivors: wife Valerie (Cain) Waldon; daughters

Tanya and Veronica Waldon; sisters Vicki (Doug) Helsby, Sylvia Winters; brother Steve (Patsy) Brown; honorary daughters Mady Swygert and Lupe

Romero; honorary brother Paul Sporleder.

Service: Thursday, November 10, 2016 at 12:00 pm at Casa Bonita Funeral Home. Committal: Stockton Rural Cemetery. Memorial Contributions can be made to American Tinnitus Association or Stockton Humane

Society.