If I had a chance…

If I had a chance … my farewell to Dave MacFarland.

I had gotten a number of calls and emails letting me know that Dave had passed away. Some of you on the Pattern Board knew him and for the others, he was someone you would have liked. During this period of COVID, there has not been much of a chance to wrap my head around it. There have been plenty of deaths but this one will take a while to absorb. He was so important to Pattern and to me.

There are clearly many people who knew Dave better than I. But if I had had the chance to speak about Dave one last time this is what I would have wanted everyone to know.

Dave was very proud of the fact that he was part of the committee that got me to come to Pattern. In fact he was very proud about a bunch of people, “ I got them all their jobs”. He would assemble us at events and insist on a group photo

If you were in his “select” circle of friends (not exactly certain how you got there) , then you got a nickname. Mine was turtle. He knew of my love for sea turtles and that was enough. Once he bestowed a nickname, well, I can’t remember the last time he called me Jonathan. Others, and they know who they are, were named “Ellenville”, “Two eggs over light” and some decorum prevents me from mentioning other nicknames – but you know who you are.

Dave was very important to Pattern. He was the only chair to serve three one year terms during my tenure. He did this during the years of the Great Recession – 2008-2010. Probably no one else wanted to. But Dave gently guided us through it. I was often thinking of him now.

Dave would proudly proclaim that he served on 26 board of directors. Now I never challenged him on that “fact”. But judging by the number of people he knew and those who angled to shake his hand, he probably did. It is also why during his tenure, Pattern’s board meetings were held in a restaurant. When I asked him why do we meet in a restaurant? He replied, “I sit in too many board rooms.”

For our 50th Anniversary we did a video poking fun at ourselves trying our best to dispel people that there was no “s” in Pattern as in “Patterns for Progress”. Dave was by far the worst culprit at mispronouncing the name of the organization he loved. The video had Dave mispronouncing our name. Correct him as I did, it didn’t matter, as he would still insist it was Patterns. Should of just changed the name of Pattern.

After Dave left the board of Pattern a strange thing happened. Someone taught Dave how to email. Now Pattern tries its best to be the apolitical organization we are required to be. But that didn’t stop Dave and I from disagreeing on just about everything when it came to politics. I am not certain that politically correct and Dave could be used in the same sentence. For years now, every day without fail he sent multiple emails trying to show me the error of my ways. However when it came to Pattern’s work, it never stopped him from saying “do what you think is right”

Here’s the thing. He may have been old school but in the way it was meant to be. We could argue and argue and argue and I would get email after email with him making his points but if we saw each other none of that mattered. We would hug, smile and know that the bond of friendship exceeded any political quarrel. And that’s the way it should be. The ability to disagree and then have a beer.

We gathered many pictures of Dave at Pattern from his past. One of our favorites was of him when he was young and in a rock band. Dave…rock band?…true.

But I think the thing I will miss the most was his smile. I am going to go way back to explain that it was like the actor Harry Carey playing the vice president in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington leaning over to smile at a young Jimmy Stewart and the smile was to let him know “Everything is going to be ok”. Dave had that effect on me just with a smile.

Yes I am going to miss that smile. And yes my in box is now a little more empty. I could use one of those smiles right about now.
That’s what I would have said about my friend.