David Baldwin Conard Jr., a resident of Ely, MN; Lomax, IL; and the world, died on December 29, 2015, in Asheville, NC, near where he was vacationing with his family. He was 67.
David was born in Albuquerque, NM, on July 2, 1948, to Major David Baldwin Conard and Nancy Louise Norton Englehart. The son of a West Point graduate and the grandson of two West Point graduates, David spent his life moving around the world, including years in Germany, Panama, El Salvador, and throughout the United States, but his beloved touchstone homes were the maternal ancestral house in Bennington, VT, and the stone cabin on Conard Island on Burntside Lake near Ely.
David entered the military in 1969 as part of the elite 101st Airborne Division and was qualified as a UH/1H Helicopter crew chief/door gunner. He later received advanced training as a turbine engine specialist and by 1976 he had attained his Fixed Wing qualifications. He graduated from the Warrant Officer Rotary Wing Flight Program with honors, was awarded the commission of Warrant Officer, and received his Army Aviator Wings. David was also an Aviation Maintenance Officer and Unit Test Pilot. He received advanced training and was a graduate of the Army’s Aviation Maintenance Officer’s Course and the Army Test Pilot Program.
David served in the conflict in Vietnam, flying in mission profiles of scout, utility, medivac and heavy lift. He received the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with two Bronze Stars, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Army Aviator Badge, the Joint Service Commendation Medal, the Army Service Ribbon, the Overseas Service Ribbon, and the Expert Marksman’s Badge (Rifle).
In 1981 David was hand-picked to be one of five team leaders of a covert 52-man combined force sent to El Salvador. Their mission was to support the Salvadoran government militarily with intelligence training, weapons, and counterinsurgency advisors embedded to combat left-wing subversion in the country.
In 1984 David left active duty to accept a position as a GS-12 Test Pilot with a National Guard Maintenance Facility. He later accepted a position as a GS-13 Test Pilot with the Army Aviation Test Board at Ft. Rucker, AL, at which time he attended the Warrant Officer Senior Course. His position as Test Pilot was terminated when Congress withdrew funding.
After retirement from the military in 1986, David established from scratch the regional office of the Better Business Bureau in Dothan, AL. He also spoke extensively to civic groups and wrote a weekly column for regional newspapers to promote the awareness of better business practices. Under his direction, the bureau was accredited and is today a well-established, self-supporting community service organization serving all of Southeast AL.
In 1989, David returned to his passion and avocation and signed on with Petroleum Helicopters to fly oil-industry support in the Gulf of Mexico. He was selected to fly for I.H.T.I., one of the premier corporate aviation organizations in the world. Once, when David was flying for one oil company, he encouraged an unknown passenger to stick his hand out the window of the helicopter. When the man complied, David told him he’d just caught the only one-sided object in nature—a rainbow. The passenger turned out to be an executive for a rival oil company who knew a good pilot and a fine man when he met one. He insisted David come fly for him.
A drunk driver ended David’s aviation career in 1992. When he moved to Lomax, IL, he became the voice and face of “Treasure in the Heartland,” a weekly column for The Quill, a newspaper serving Henderson and Hancock Counties in Illinois. Through his column, David celebrated the goodness in local residents and shone a light on both civic and natural events through his photography and gifted prose.
David’s compassion and selflessness were legendary and he leaves behind an extraordinary legacy of giving and caring for all those around him. Once, after a chance meeting with an elderly woman who had suffered years of neglect by her own family, David convinced her to allow him to enter her home where he was trusted to sort through decades of waist-high detritus. He expected and received nothing for his months-long efforts except the knowledge that, in the end, a community was moved to pitch in and together they helped the woman regain a livable home, her dignity, her health, and the care and support of her neighbors.
Throughout his lifetime, David helped countless others: his wise counsel guided more than one friend to correct the power imbalance within a difficult relationship. He once taught a group of elderly women to choreograph dancing kites; he helped friends care for elderly parents and ailing partners; he walked with friends through their loss of loved ones; he nurtured business owners, artists and writers in their work; and he gave the rainbows and kites that spoke to his free spirit and unwavering love of the sky to family and privileged friends.
David believed in “Preferred Parking” — blessings unsought but often visible nonetheless. He said he did not do anything to earn such privileges—only that it was important to be on the look-out for them and to say thank you, or you might not be granted such privileges again. “Preferred Parking” included, of course, a prime parking spot when needed, but it also included finding a good boat, a smart dog, an accidental shape of wood, a treasure in brass or copper, a stunning sunset and a glorious sunrise, two chipmunks, a certain gray jay, a whole family of hummingbirds, and most of all, new friends.
To those who knew David, he embodied the best in all of us; beloved son, brother, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, lover and friend.
His survivors include: his Mother, Nancy Englehart Conard of Columbus, GA. His sons and grandchildren: Adam Bradford Conard (Rachel Grant) and their son, Felix, of Whitefish, MT; Joshua David Conard (Victoria Donnell) and children: Madison and Sawyer, of Gilbert, LA; and Staff Sergeant David Baldwin Conard III (Tiffany) stationed at Fort Bragg, NC. His sisters and their families: Candace Conard of Sherman, CT and her daughter Lindsay (Matthew) Taylor and their children: Maxwell, Charlie and Katie of New York, NY; Lisa (Steve) Foster of Monroe, NC and their children: Senior Airman Tyler Foster stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, AL, and Kelly Foster of Greensboro, NC. His brother: Joseph Conard of Columbus, GA. And David’s Family of the Heart: Becca Brin Manlove and Celin (Sean) Williams of Ely, MN; Ryan McSparen and his family of Burlington, IA; and his devoted friends.
David is predeceased by his father, Col. David Baldwin Conard, his infant sister Nancy Norton Conard, his beloved grandparents, uncles and aunts; his friends Moose Scufsa and Robert Brin, both of Ely, and by dozens of beloved dogs, ducks, chicks, eagles, parrots, crows and squirrels.
A celebration of his life will be held in late May/early June 2016 on the island and waters he loved above all other places -- Lake Burntside near Ely, MN. Notice will be given. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Wildwoods, an animal rescue and rehabilitation service located in Duluth, MN (wildwoodsrehab.org).
