About David Russell Ege
David was 19, attending the University of Minnesota, Morris, when he died. We could not have known that our happy baby, energetic toddler, creative boy and bright, kind and promising young man concealed a brain illness that would ultimately take his life.
I remember those peaceful summer days on Lake Superior, picking rocks. “Is this an agate, Mom?” David would ask many, many times. He would come to know and find the gems we hunted.
I remember attending an art fair with David when he was ten. His interest was in the displays of handcrafted swords. I gave David spending money and off he went. He returned 30 minutes later, not with a sword or something else for himself, but with a ceramic dish for me. That was the sort of kid he was.
I remember watching David when he and his team presented their “Future City” to the judges at the Minnesota State competition in 2003 and then won, to go on to Washington DC for the national competition. I was both amazed and proud of his knowledge and the grace, imagination and humor with which he presented it.
I remember David’s constant humming and singing from an early age, playing piano and the trumpet, participating in school drama performances, running Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth and in his high school cross-country meets. I remember his learning blacksmithing as a teenager and putting on public demonstrations of his craft, he and his father building his smithing shop not too far from the tree house they had built some years earlier. I remember his love of riding motorcycle and of visiting his big brother in Minneapolis. I remember his beautiful drawings, the cards he made and the loving notes he wrote.
David’s friends described him as a free spirit, a great listener and an amazing friend. “He gave great hugs,” one told me. Loving, kind and compassionate, David felt things very deeply.
This is the David we knew. This is the David we lost.
Our lives will never be the same. A part of each of us died with you, my son.
We love you.
Mom
On behalf of all of David’s family and friends
