David Thomas Gann passed away in the early morning hours of March 13, 2018 in Springfield, Missouri surrounded by family, laughter, and song. David was born on November 17, 1954 in San Fernando, California, the last of three boys born to Hearl Thomas Gann and Gloetta June (nee Gann).

David grew up in Lawndale and Hawthorne, California, spending many hours with his family and friends at Bible Baptist Church in Gardena. As a young boy, David idolized Willy Mayes, and grew up having a proclivity toward athletics, particularly wrestling, baseball, and basketball. While in possession of a curious mind, David didn't enjoy school. He did enjoy the companionship of a few close friends, in whose company many shenanigans ensued.

Though raised in Southern California, he spent many summer vacations at his grandparents' farm outside of Conway, Missouri. There he learned to love cows and the smell of calves. Spending time on his grandparents' farm soon turned into a vision of a farm of his own, and it became his life's goal to return to his roots and become a dairy farmer.

After graduation from high school, David began working at a local filling station, continuing to hone his mechanical skills, while also working for his father pouring concrete and doing construction work. He met Patte Huckelberry through some friends, and, after some convincing and fancy talk, they began dating in the spring of 1979. They were married on January 5, 1980 at First Baptist Church in Redondo Beach, California and moved into their first home, a small fixer-upper with a big back yard and lots of room for gardening.

When his parents moved back to Missouri in 1980, David began working for his father-in-law doing stucco work throughout the South Bay area. One day, Patte's dad asked David, "How badly do you want to earn your farm?" His father-in-law wanted to retire, so David and Patte purchased the stucco equipment and began their own business. In quick succession they also began a family, welcoming Maggie in 1984 and Emily in 1986. Owning a small business ensured long, hard hours, but David still made time for family. On weekends, the girls would get to tag along as Daddy made the rounds checking job sites. Sometimes there would be pancakes afterward at IHOP!

In the fall of 1988 David's life-long dream was realized as he and Patte purchased 300 acres of farmland and moved their family to southwest Missouri. Let the adventure begin! There was lots of work to do when they arrived—building barns, purchasing equipment, and repairing a hundred-year-old farmhouse took more than 6 months—but with the assistance of family and friends they were soon settled and dairy farming in earnest. Massive gardens, fruit orchards, chickens, pigs, Labrador Retriever puppies, and even a horse or two would eventually settle at Gann Farm.

Those were happy years. The work was hard and the hours long, but David learned all he could about farming, including conservation and land management. Family and friends from the city came to visit and got a taste of country life, participating in chores and other farm fun alongside the family. In the summers David would sit on the porch and read to his wife and daughters by the light of a flashlight or citronella candle. Some favorites were the Fields of Home by Ralph Moody, and anything and everything by James Harriot. David was an especially gifted reader, doing all the different accents and voices in dramatic fashion.

Family dairy was hard work and not particularly lucrative in the 1990s, so in 1996 the dairy cows were sold. In 1999, David went to work for Kraft Foods, and the farm transitioned from dairy to beef cows. As the dairy farm dream declined and died, so did David's faith in God. He considered himself an atheist until 2003 when a second barn fire took the remaining outbuildings. Through the building fires, David began to see that his life wasn't his own. He remembered the many men throughout his youth who'd taken time to mentor him, and the many other people he respected who were people of faith, and he began to dip his toe into the waters of his faith community.

Since moving to Missouri, Patte and the girls had been attending St. Luke United Methodist Church in Conway, and so that's where David went. St. Luke was where he re-learned about one of his favorite words, grace, and, to him, grace became everything. In 2006 David joined St. Luke United Methodist Church and began reading and studying his Bible and hymnal, delving deeply for the truths within their pages. He also began bringing his own hymnals to church and when it was time for special music David would announce, "Our family has a special today," much to the surprise of the other family members present ("What? We do?"). Rarely did anyone else know the number, yet that never stopped the entire family from sharing the gift of song.

Over the next decade, as his health declined, his relationship with God grew. He became a powerful prayer, keeping a prayer list in a notebook or on any scrap of junk mail that came to hand. Even in his last months he would pray for and with anyone who came to visit him, including medical staff, facilities personnel, and chaplains.

In 2007 Jim Bigley joined the family, bringing with him many young hands and hearts to learn about farming and land management. David enjoyed spending time with young men on his farm, doing for them what the older men throughout his life had done for him. Emily and Jim also began a family, and gifted David with three more "treasures"—Huck, Etta, and Hattie—grandchildren with whom he was foolishly in love.

Throughout his life, David loved gardening, composting, sustainable agriculture, animals (particularly cows, dogs, and gorillas), cooking, history, people, tacos, books, music, singing, and words (both sacred and profane). He was a lifelong learner, always telling of something new he'd learned or read, and trying to share books and other things he thought you might find interesting or enlightening. He was generous with people who were down on their luck, even when it was inconvenient. He could rewrite song lyrics with levity and ease, and was an amateur inventor, birthing into the world such creations as: the butt crutch, tractor jack apple cider press, mulch garden carpeting, a traveling globe, Webber Kettle on a walker, and many alternative filing systems. His larger-than-life presence and generous heart will be missed by all who knew him.

David was preceded in death by his parents, Hearl and Gloetta Gann of Conway, MO. He leaves behind: wife, Patte; daughters Maggie Gann of St. Louis, MO and Emily (Jim) Bigley of Marshfield, MO; grandchildren Huck, Etta, and Hattie Bigley of Marshfield, MO; brothers Vernon (Nancy) Gann of Springfield, MO and Lavelle (Carolyn) Gann of Marshfield, MO; sisters-in-law Kathi (Ralph) Battles of San Louis Obispo, CA, Carol (Paul) Hunt of Phoenix, AZ, and Becky Cooper of Houston, TX; nieces Angela (Keith) White, Cheryl (Nick) Battles, and Denise (Jeremy) Staley; nephews JR (Laura) Gann, Josh (Ashley) Gann, Mike (Kathy) Cooper, Sean Battles, and Mark (Erica) Hunt; and many great nieces and nephews, friends, and neighbors.

Funeral services will be held Friday April 6, 2018 at St. Luke United Methodist Church on State Hwy Long Y in Conway, Missouri at 1pm with internment to follow at Gann Cemetery at Green Mountain Missionary Baptist Church in Conway, Missouri. In lieu of flowers the family asks that donations be made in David's memory to Heifer International (1 World Avenue, Little Rock, AR 72202 or https://www.heifer.org/gift-catalog/give-where-needed-most-donation.html ) because David believed that:

All things bright and beautiful,
all creatures great and small,
all things wise and wonderful,
the Lord God made them all.