David attended Notre Dame and learned to fly at the age of 16, from Homer Stockert of Stockert’s Flying Service in South Bend, Ind. He served in the Army Air Corps in Africa prior to Pearl Harbor and then during WWII flew in India, China, the North Atlantic and Europe. He also participated in the Berlin Airlift in 1948-9. David became a captain with Pan American Airlines and then relocated to Granger, Ind., to become the chief corporate pilot for the Kawneer Aluminum Company of Niles, Mich. David and his brother John eventually purchased and operated Stockert’s Flying Service and trained hundreds of Notre Dame students to fly. David also operated a farm in Granger and was an exceptionally accomplished outdoorsman. He was a survival specialist who grew up spending Summers in the Canadian bush building cabins with his father, surrounded by Indian heritage. David was a founding member of St. Pius Catholic Church of Granger. David and Dorothy settled in Elkhart, Ind.