The guy who shot Tweetie Bird
Eulogy
All of you who knew Les will remember him in different ways, depending on the personal experiences that each of you have had with him. This is how I will remember him.
Les was born into our military family on March 26, 1957 in Aberdeen, Maryland. He was four years younger than Carl, a year younger than Nick and a year older than me and Doug. He was right in the middle of the pack.
He had a happy childhood. Our family bounced around between army bases. Like most military kids, Les was resilient to change.
He liked the Boy Scouts. Back then, scouting helped develop basic leadership skills and was early training in outdoor survival. Les’ troop also seemed like early introduction to military service because the Scoutmasters were all Army officers.
His patrol was made up of his friends. They were fellow Army brats that he went to school with. He started canoeing when in the Scouts and paddled on the Missouri River and in the Lake of the Ozarks on overnight camping trips. To me, Les was always mentally tough, but I remember him getting physically tough about then. He started lifting weights at the age of 14. His shoulders broadened.
As a boy, he also spent time learning how to handle a gun. He was a good archer. I thought it was odd, though, that he shot a bow left-handed and guns right-handed. I recall hunting bobwhites with him and dad down on the Missouri River
bottom on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
He had a brand new Remington 870 Wingmaster and he couldn’t wait to shoot it at something flying. A covey of quail flushed out in front of us. Dad and I missed, but Les didn’t. We walked over to search for the bird and when Les found it, it was a Meadow Lark.
Dad told him that he just shot Tweetie Bird but not to worry about it, because it was a really good shot. That’s when my brother and I learned why it was important to identify game before pulling a trigger. I never spoke to him about that afterwards but I have always remembered Les as the guy who shot Tweetie Bird and still laugh when I think about it.
The first time I worked with Les was on the Repair and Utilities Crew at Funari Barracks in Mannheim, W. Germany. It was the summer of 1974. Just recently, we talked about how we used to cut the grass on the ammunition bunkers with scythes. Sparks from power mowers could cause a fire and blow up the Army base, you see.
He started playing the guitar during High School and always dreamed of having a Gibson Les Paul Deluxe with a Cherry Sunburst finish. He eventually bought one. He and Nick ALWAYS hung out together, then, and his life-long friend, Jim Hetler lived down the street from us. Les graduated from Manheim American High School in 1975 and left for Seattle.
While he was at the University of Washington, Les shared apartments off and on with Doug, Nick, and Jim. He and Doug even attended some history and political science courses together at the UW. Throughout his life, Les would always love to study and read history. He always worked during his college years, too, driving a school bus in downtown Seattle or as a warehouseman at Sandpoint Naval Air Station. Les graduated from the University of Washington in 1979 with a BA in Political Science.
That summer was really special for Les, Carl and Nick. They and other friends planned a canoe trip into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and into Quetico Provincial Park. On the way to northern Minnesota, Les and Nick circumnavigated the Bowron Lakes in southern British Columbia. Nick told me that there were so many black bears on that trip, they thought about sleeping in the trees.
It physically prepared them for what was to come when they joined Carl and his friends for a trip into the Boundary Waters. That trip was legendary and life-changing. They paddled over 600 miles.
After that, each of them deserved to wear a coveted voyager’s sash – waistbands symbolic of those worn by the early day Northwest explorers. Les firmly established his preferred method of backcountry travel.
He loved the Boundary Waters.
He worked and lived in Virginia and really enjoyed the many things that part of our country had to offer. For a short time, he came back to Seattle and worked as a warehouse supervisor for a company called Genesco. That’ when Les and I worked together for the second time; during the winter of 1982. It rained non- stop for thirty days and we both talked about living somewhere else. Anywhere else! Les liked the Southeast.
In August that year, he had the opportunity to move to Charlotte to manage a security systems company for retired Army LTC Fred Slocum. He managed the company for 7 years until LTC Slocum’s health declined. For a little while, Les was seriously considering buying the business, but eventually decided to return to school. By then, the city of Charlotte had a firm grip on him.
Les enrolled at UNC – Charlotte in the fall of 1989. That’s when he met Socky. He would go to school during the day and when Consolidated Freight was short- handed, they would call him up to load semi-trucks at night. He and Socky fell for each other and were married on February 2, 1991. He finished his Master’s Degree in Business Administration that fall and received his diploma in May of ‘92.
Les then started his career in the financial sector with Dean Witter. He also worked with Smith Barney and AG Edwards before finding a home with RBC Wealth Management. His clients knew him as a friend. He was deeply committed to developing friendships throughout his life. When Les asked you how things were going, he really wanted to know. He spoke to people about family. People confided in him about their families and about everyday life. Les lived life WITH you, and he kept in touch. He was a dependable and accountable friend. He was your confidant.
He continued to play the guitar. Some of his favorite pastimes were attending concerts, playing music and going to trade shows with his dear friend, Tom Daniel. He sold the Gibson Les Paul Deluxe with a Cherry Sunburst finish earlier in life, but replaced it with other special guitars as the years went by.
Lukas was born in 1993 and Nicholas in 1996. Socky and Les have always been family oriented and have been blessed to have Socky’s family so close to them for so many years. The boys grew up having close relationships with their grandmother, uncles, aunts and their cousins Adam, Victoria and Allison. They would come out west for vacations and Lukas and Nicholas would come to know and love their western cousins, too. Les and Socky stressed the importance of family and passed that down to their sons. That’s something that can become lost in the clutter of modern life.
Les was always proud of his boys and was able to share his outdoor experiences with them. They are accomplished outdoorsmen. Recently, Les and I quietly admitted to each other that they have out-classed us on the trap range. He explained that it was because of their youthful eye sight and reflexes. Who can argue with Les’ direct and simple logic; his reasoned clarity.
He introduced Lukas, Nicholas and their cousin Allison to the Boundary Waters in 2009. They took my youngest daughter, Vanessa, with them in 2011. I was lucky enough to go with them in 2014.
Paddling becomes rote and rhythmic when you are doing it all day. Each stroke of a paddle creates a swirl in the water that you can watch until it disappears from sight. It was difficult to keep up with Les in a canoe. He moved forward deliberately, with broad shoulders, just like he did with all things in life.
Les never left swirls in his wake. He left whirlpools.
As we move forward, always remember your personal experiences with Les that put a smile on your face. He is certainly smiling upon you now.
— Dennis M. Davaz, August 7, 2017