David Douglas
Larry Wolfe
Faith, Family, and Function (or purpose): Those are the three tenets that have guided David Douglas throughout his adult life.
Faith: David and his wife Leigh have always been very active in their home churches, with David serving in several lead ministry positions.
Family: The Douglases have been married for over 48 years and have three children: twin daughters Kimberly and Kristina and son Kirk. The “kids” have blessed them with eight grandchildren. All the families live relatively close to Sun Lakes, so that allows for a significant amount of family time and activities together.
Function: David believes that one of his main purposes in life is to honor and glorify God and to encourage others to do so as well. He says that this has allowed him to accomplish things that he couldn’t have done on his own, including starting and running a successful business and battling and defeating cancer eight years ago.
David grew up as an “Air Force brat,” with his father being transferred from place to place. As a youngster, he lived in California (a native of Riverside), Wyoming, Iowa, Texas, Nebraska, and Arizona, with a four-year adventure in Turkey thrown in for good measure. He spent grades 5 through 8 at Karamürsel Air Force Base on the Sea of Marmara. (Interestingly, that base was originally built by the German Luftwaffe during World War II.) He attended four different schools during his high school years, including one in Omaha and three in Arizona. That made it difficult to get involved in things, but it certainly taught him to adapt.
Baseball and softball have always been an important part of David’s life. From being a Little League All-Star in Turkey to forming a 32-team softball league in Tucson to now playing in our senior softball league, he’s always had a bat in his hands. One of his favorite memories dates back to Oct. 10, 1978, when his softball team won the Pima County Championship, and a few hours later, his “Twinkies,” the twin girls, were born. He did “veer off” into track and field in high school where he was a half-miler and miler, even becoming one of the top milers in Tucson as a senior with a 4:36 time.
After graduating from Sahuaro High in Tucson, David worked in the industrial supplies business for several years before deciding to start his own company in that same field. His Southwestern Supply Company would be a success for 35 years before he sold it three years ago. “Who knew you could make a whole career out of nuts and bolts?” David wondered!
David and Leigh now have time for other things, such as spending summers at their getaway place in Heber, and they’re planning on doing more traveling.
When I asked David what the guys at the field would be surprised to learn about him, he revealed that he once was an Elvis impersonator, white jumpsuit and all! That takes some faith!