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David at his father's Rapid City apartment In memory of my Uncle David,
Uphill by Christina Rossetti

Does the road wind uphill all the way?
Yes, to the very end
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend
But is there for the night a resting place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labor you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

May David find a room in the many mansions God,
our Father, has provided for his children.
May it be a safe place that provides security,
comfort and peace of mind.

David's niece, Joann

David Edward Mahood

November 9, 1951 - February 3, 2002

This page is dedicated to our friend, David.
There are many pictures here and they may take some time to load.
If you would like to add anything to this page,
please contact me and I will try to get it added as soon as possible.
Send your e-mail by clicking on my name. Gregg

Please check this page often, as there may be changes.
Here are HTML copies of the leaflets prepared for David's Memorial service in Rapid City.
In Loving Memory
and
Uphill

On February 7, 2002, the day of David's funeral, this poem was read by Garrison Keillor on the MPR program "The Writer's Almanac":

THURSDAY, 7 FEBRUARY 2002
Poem: "For John Berryman," by David Ignatow
from New and Collected Poems (Wesleyan University Press).

For John Berryman

You're dead, what can I do for you?
I am not unsympathetic;
I thought about you often enough
though we never spoke together
but once when I shied away,
feeling something that I fought
in me too-and came out with this
manner of living, by living.

It is depressing to live
but to kill myself in protest
is to assume there is something
to life withheld from me, yet
who withholds it? Think about it.
What is the answer?

But suicide is not so wrong
for one who thought and prayed
his way toward it. I wish, though,
I had known sooner, to have
helped you go on living,
as I do, half a suicide;
the need defended by the other half
that thinks to live in that knowledge
is praiseworthy.

Bret, Ann, David, Gregg, Trudy, Bette, 1986?

Gregg, Bret and David near Granite Peak, Wyoming, 1996

David, Gregg, Bret at Slough Creek, Yellowstone National Park, 1996

Gregg, Bret and David in Custer State Park, South Dakota 1996.

Thanks to David's sister Helen for these photos.

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This document was last updated March 10, 2006