David Haslam Bale

1930 - 2016

David Haslam Bale

June 24, 1930

December 8, 2016

David Haslam Bale was born June 24, 1930 in Palo Alto, CA on his mother's 28th birthday. He was the first born of Herbert Haslam Bale, who worked for Crocker Bank in San Francisco, and Ella Cecilia Michelson Bale, who worked as a junior secretary for Lewis M. Terman at Stanford University. David started out life with curly brown hair and he reportedly got his crooked nose from being dropped as a baby. At Palo Alto High School he enjoyed being on the water polo team. When taking a breather from his economics major at Stanford University, you could find David downhill skiing. After graduation in 1952, Dave went through officer's candidate school and served as a junior naval officer on the Admiral's staff during the Korean War. On Nov. 28, 1953 David married Canadian Donna Margaret Ludlow (born July 18, 1933) who he met when his younger brother Donald brought Donna's good friend Marie to visit and Marie's mom insisted that she bring a chaperone. The brothers thought it was great fun to wake up the ladies using a large brass gong outside their bedroom door. Nine months before their daughter Cindy was born, Donna made her first lemon meringue pie for their first anniversary dinner. Donna would never forgive David for carefully talking his fork and moving the meringue off to the side of the plate. David went to work for Shell Oil in San Francisco. Son Doug was born a few months after Donna became a naturalized American citizen. David and Donna bought their first house in Palo Alto in the mid-50s, then moved to a new neighborhood in Sunnyvale in the early 60s. In Dave's spare time he built a ham radio, the home stereo, a sailboat by hand from plans he ordered from Popular Mechanics, and was a Toastmaster. The Bale family traveled by car around the western United States and Canada on summer and winter vacations. The Bale family enjoyed board games and singing at their player piano with friends. David became one his neighborhood's first joggers in the late 60s and was bitten by one or two German shepherds. He loved dogs and bought Donna a miniature white poodle for her 39th birthday after the family voted for a dog instead of a baby. David designed the landscaping for each home he lived in. David earned his real estate license in the mid-60s. When Doug was in middle school he and his father built a kayak. David and Donna studied nutrition and practiced transcendental meditation throughout their lives. In the early 70s, David and Donna bought a plot of land in Incline Village, CA in Lake Tahoe, had the shell of a cabin built, and spent the next few years completing the cabin, doing everything from plumbing, electrical, sheetrock, flooring and carpeting on weekends with friends and family. Dave retired from Shell after 20 years to sell real estate full-time when David and Donna moved to Lake Tahoe in 1978. Donna started a business doing numerology readings. On his birthday every year that he lived in Lake Tahoe, Dave ran 26.2 miles around the Lake, his birthday marathon. Dave earned a securities license in the 80s. One day David and Donna had company over, let's say it was Fred and Angela. At some point in the visit, Dave exclaimed, "What a magnificent color!" When asked what he was talking about, he said, "You know, that beautiful orange red magenta color around Angela". It turned out that David always thought that everyone saw auras but that no one ever talked about it. After being sidelined from running by a bone spur in his heel, David switched from running to riding a bike and on his birthdays he rode his bike 26.2 miles around Lake Tahoe. David and Donna moved to Sparks, NV in 2000 but Donna passed away from cancer on Dec. 18, 2001. Dave joined a widows and widowers group and stayed with the group after he married one of the widows, Alexandra Dean in Nov. 2003. David was badly injured in a bike accident and spent two months in the hospital in 2004 at which time the Center for Spiritual Living's prayer team started to make Alex more of a believer. Dave and Alex went to Orange County for Cindy's wedding to Rand Tanner just before Alex passed away in the fall of 2011. David loved his Tai Chi class and classmates. Dave loved his volunteer work at the food bank and holding newborn babies at the local hospital, and his church's men's group. The most important things to Dave were the love of family and friends, and he was still looking to fall in love again. David died peacefully at his home in Sparks, NV sitting on his living room couch on Thursday, December 8, 2016. Dave's memorial service was held on Dec. 13, 2016 at the Center for Spiritual Living, presided over by Rev. Dr. Liesa Garcia, who married Alex and Dave. David has two grandchildren, Christopher Sturtevant and Brandie Duran, each 23 years old, of whom Dave was very proud. Dave is also survived by his son Doug Bale, his daughter Cindy Tanner, his son-in-law Rand, his sister-in-law S. Patricia Hunt, his wife Alex's family, the Deans, and by his nieces and nephews and his friends. Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.