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One could write volumes about Dave’s character, wisdom, leadership, and devotion to family. We, his family and friends, will share some of what made Dave, like the<em> Reader’s Digest </em>series, a most unforgettable character.</p>
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Have you ever noticed how a child watches the world around him with unswerving seriousness? If you can find that trait in an adult, you will have found a remarkable person: meet Dave Arthur.</p>
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<em>“I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul” </em>— William Ernest Henley</p>
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<em>David ‘Dave’ William Arthur </em>was born on December 11, 1942 in Yonkers, NY, the youngest of three and the only son of Doris and John Arthur. He grew up in Westport, CT, graduating from Staples High School in 1960. Denied an appointment to the Academy from high school, he vowed to arrive by other means: he enlisted in the Army, served as a field artilleryman in Korea, earned an appointment to the USMA Prep School, and excelled to join the Class of 1966.</p>
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<em>“It’s the keeping-your-chin-up that’s hard”</em> — Robert W. Service</p>
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Dave’s early adversity in life came from an older sister who confessed to teasing him unmercifully. Perhaps she had prescience and knew that Dave had to be tough to handle what lay ahead.</p>
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Four years at the Academy presented innumerable adverse conditions, and through them all Dave stood tall. His plebe year roommate recalled how Dave would prepare him and his companymates for the coming week on what to expect and what they should be doing. Through his mentoring, there is no telling how many classmates he helped make it through the four long years. To say Dave was a born leader is a gross understatement. During plebe Christmas, when a chain of command was established from the class, Dave was selected as the brigade commander, and he was regimental commander of the newly formed 4th Regiment during senior year. If Red Reeder had begun writing his books then, his cadet exemplar would have been Dave, the impeccable gentleman whose sterling uniform always made him look like a “walking Brasso ad.”</p>
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After graduation Dave married his first love, Joan. In the coming years they were blessed with a son, David, and a daughter, Paige. During this time, Dave served two tours in the Republic of Vietnam, as company commander of C/2-28 Infantry and as advisor to an ARVN Ranger battalion, before returning to West Point as the G-4 tactical officer.</p>
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Adversity struck again in 1976 when his beloved Joan was killed in a car accident, and Dave’s role as a single parent took on more meaning. “When one door closes, another door opens,” though, and there was Tam, who would become his soulmate for the rest of his life. Growing his family with another son, Josh, Dave served in a variety of command and staff assignments before reaching the Pentagon.</p>
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Upon his retirement from the Army, adversity in the form of melanoma threatened to end this great life all too soon; but, as one would expect, Dave fought through. When cancer returned six years later, metastasizing to the lung and brain, he was given a prognosis of 9 to 18 months. Dave fought through again and blessed us with another 17 memorable years.</p>
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Dave always claimed that he would have been a teacher had he not been a soldier. True to his word, he continued to impact the lives of young men and women after he retired, teaching high school mathematics for 10 years, with one of his students being the son of a cadet when Dave was a company TAC. Remembering “Upon the fields of friendly strife…,” he coached soccer and basketball and instilled in his own children the value of sports.</p>
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Dave’s interests were wide and varied. He loved poetry and music, reciting lines from Service, Kipling, Frost, and others. He entertained guests by imitating Harold Hill railing against the evils of pool and sang along when an “oldie” was playing on the radio, like “American Pie” or “Teach Your Children.” He enjoyed bridge and was an avid participant in sports, both at the Academy and afterward.</p>
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<em>“I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach”</em> — T.S. Eliot</p>
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In his later years, Dave resided on Skidaway Island, near Savannah, on the Georgia coast. He was afflicted with dementia, linking back to aggressive radiation treatments after his melanoma reappeared. Dementia slowly eroded his higher functions, but he remained serene, quoting poems and enjoying a daily cigar into his final weeks. Shortly before his passing, he was resting in the den, communicating with someone who wasn’t visible, when suddenly he sat back, uttered a classmate’s name, and softly chuckled to himself. Even to the end, he was a valiant member of the “Fame will mix with ’66” class.</p>
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<em>“Well, remember me sometimes. I shall always remember you.” — </em>From <em>Goodbye, Mr. Chips</em></p>
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When assessing one’s life and impact on this world, we frequently look to the children, and Dave’s children would make any mom and dad extremely proud; however, Dave’s reach was far beyond that. As a tactical officer, he touched the lives of many cadets and future officers, starting the growth of hundreds and eventually thousands who benefited directly or indirectly from having known him. Today, those “Guppies” still speak with reverence for his leadership, noting how he made better officers and better men of them all.</p>
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Dave was a teacher of life. The Class of 1966 has lost perhaps its best, and we are all better people for having known him.</p>
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<em>“Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just Ourselves and Immortality”</em> — Emily Dickinson</p>
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Be Thou at Peace, good friend.</p>
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<em>— Family and friends</em></p>