David Bassett
2 May 1945 - 16 May 2025

David was born to Charles Harold Bassett (1911 MO - 1989 CA) and Sarah Gertrude Jones (1915 CA - 1982 CA). His ancestry, which goes back to William Bassett of the Fortune, can be found here: https://www.bassett.net/gendata-o/i-p.htm?p=10001&g=5 and pictures of him through the years can be found via the link above.. He learned to drive on a 1919 Model T Touring, His father called it "the Misunderstood Model T”, and in a 1958 article in the "The Pasadena Mail" (now The Pasadena Weekly) there is an accompanying photo with 13 year old David and his father Harold working on it. Dave would tell stories about "the T", and sometime in the future, I'll try to recall some of them and get then written down here.

He went to Washington Elementary and Jr High and at his death still had a Washington Junior High t-shirt in his collectable items.

He was predeceased by his two sisters, Margaret Ruth (Bassett) Bryant (1938 - 2007), and Barbara Loraine Bassett (1935 - 2019)

After Jr High graduation, he went on to John Muir High School graduating from there in 1963. Dave was on the reunion committee on up until his death. Kathryn joined him during the planning of the 20th reunion, and his classmates ultimately "adopted" her into the class as "Keeper of the Database" They had reunions every 5 years up through the 50th, then started having less formal ones every year.The John Muir Class of 1963 will miss his contributions through the years.

Like so many others of his age, next came the military, being inducted into the Army 23 Nov 1965, active duty 2 years, then reserves for 4 years finally getting out 22 Nov 1971. He had basic training at Fort Lewis WA, and went by boat to VietNam, the last group going by boat vs flying. There are many stories, but they will have to wait for now.

An abbreviated story is that between graduation and the Army, he worked at NBC studios as a carpenter and met a number of famous people. One was working the Bob Hope show. Jumping forward to VietNam, Hope was there for one of his Christmas shows. Dave was helping with the setup and said to Hope "you probably don't remember me,,," and Hope interrupted him saying "of course I remember you Dave. When are you coming back to Burbank to work on my show?" Wow, some people can say they know such an such star, but how many can say that a star not only knows your name and where he knows you from, but in addition knowing you when you look like the 5000 other GIs that all looked alike in another country? You can see a picture of Hope and Dave in the picture link.

After VietNam, Dave went to Muir to visit the stage - it was common for stage crew students to come back to visit their teacher. Bob Carroll was planning on leaving Muir for Pasadena City College, and asked Dave if he was interested in taking over for him teaching stage at Muir. Dave said "who, me? In a white shirt and tie?" (Dress codes in those days). Long story short, Dave got credentialled and took over for Bob teaching stage at Muir. See working years for more.

Dave married Carol Conrad in 1969, and had son Matthew. Matt and his wife ultimately presented us with a grandson and a granddaughter.

Dave and Kathryn's story is already written up, so you can read that here.

1969-Sep 1988: Included in his 19 years of teaching was 18 years of teaching stage technology (which includes carpentry and woodworking), 12 years of teaching audio visual, 4 years of Sr Hi woodworking, 8 years of Jr Hi woodworking, 2 years of Jr Hi "world of repair", 1 year of Sr Hi drafting, 7 years of Jr Hi drafting, and 1 year of shop math.

Sep 1988-Nov 1989: still with PUSD but as a carpenter with the district service center.

Nov 1989-Jun 1991: was with the Chaffey Joint Union High School District in Ontario.where he taught construction (building a house from ground up) and woods. He loved the job, but the commute wasn't worth it.

Jun 1991- Mar 1993: I'm missing something here, I think he was doing contracting full time at this point in time. It wasn't specified on the resume I have.

1984 - Jan 1991: Overlapping his main work with schools, he was the building engineer for First Congregational Church in Pasadena.

Mar 1993 - Sep 1998: he worked for the Alhambra School District in general maintenance

Oct 1998: he left Alhambra when he was offered the lead carpenter position back with PUSD where he remained until retirement in 2010. The last few years, he was also the lead locksmith.

During it all, he had his own General Contractor's business, getting his license in 1984, eventually putting it in suspense after he retired. He also had his locksmith licence. He specialized in doing "the little jobs the big guys didn't want to do".

Dave and Kathryn, in retirement years, were busier than when working. Our QR landing page tells you about the Military groups and Amateur Radio aka Ham Radio, as well as RV Camping, Social Clubs, and Hobbies.

In his earlier life, Dave had a dog named Tasha (I think that's right) but Tasha had gone to "Rainbow Heaven" long before I entered the picture, bringing a cat into the marriage (Velvet). After Velvet died, the next cat was Burlap. In 2004, birds entered our lives when a good friend Richard died. For the last year of Richard's life, David would spend a couple hours a week bonding with Sweet Pea the Nanday Conure, & Tweetie Bird the cockatiel, so their transition to our household was a smooth one. We also eventually had Lemon Drop the canary and, Buddy the Budgie. Just after Christmas 2011, we got Sunny Boy the Golden Conure, who is 3 days older than our granddaughter. Pictures of all but Velvet can be found in our SmugMug Album.

The hobby that the three generations enjoy/enjoyed together was/is 1.5" scale trains. I joined Los Angeles Live Steamers in 1975, and dragged Dave along in 1981 before we even married. We bought our first train in 2016 and the collection has grown a lot since then. Lots of pictures available on SmugMug. Ellie has taken over as "hers" that first engine, and Matt has purchased an engine for the collection as well.

When our church burned in the Eaton fire, LALS became the no-brainer replacement location for Dave's surprise 80th birthday party. That party was two weeks before his death, so we all have a wonderful, last social memory to look back on.

Dave's Celebraion of Life will be held at LALS at the end of July.

With all that I learned about the cause of death, I know in my heart that he did not suffer. For the essence of the Dave we knew and loved, death was instantaneous: about 10:30am Tuesday morning 13 May 2025. The ventilator was removed about 12 hours later. His heart stopped beating at 3:00pm on Friday 16 May 2025, and the doctor officially "pronounced him at 3:46pm.

I'm writing out all of this because it's cathartic for me to do so.

Trauma doctor told us Dave had a brain bleed due to a high blood pressure spike. I don't know what the Systolic was when he fell, but the first time it was checked in the hospital, it was 219. So it must have been much higher when the paramedics took it.

I was wondering about the "chicken vs egg" analogy: did the fall cause a blood pressure spike, or did the up/down things he was doing to get the car strapped down cause the fall. After researching various combinations of stroke, blood pressure, brain bleed, aneurysm, etc, I've put together the probable sequence, since his blood pressure was pretty much controlled with medication normally.

I think he was somewhat dizzy from strapping down the car, causing him to slip on the stairs and fall. He probably hit his head, causing the blood pressure spike, which caused the brain bleed. (coronor later confirmed that trauma caused the Intracranial Hemorrhage)

Here are just some of the things I found that lend credence to my theory.

"When a head injury damages areas of the brain responsible for blood pressure regulation, it can lead to a surge in blood pressure". Hitting his head explains the blood pressure.

"A hemorrhagic stroke results from a bleed. A blood vessel — or possibly an aneurysm — bursts or leaks, and blood enters parts of the brain where it would not usually be, causing damage. Extremely high blood pressure can trigger a brain hemorrhage especially if a person has a brain aneurysm".

I had not previously known that there are two kinds of strokes: ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemic is what we commonly think of when someone has had a stroke. "An ischemic stroke happens when blood clots, plaque, or other particles block an artery. As a result, the areas of the brain that blood vessel supplies can go through ischemic damage. This occurs due to a starvation of blood, oxygen, and nutrients".

Only a small amount of strokes are hemorrhagic. I saw figures ranging from 13% to 20%. The mortality rate is around 50%, without any underlying medical conditions, and if it's small bleed. Taking into consideration Dave's underlying conditions, and the size of the bleed (4.7cm), the neuro surgeon gave him a 97% mortality rating and said no surgery, because even if he survived that, there would be significant cognitive and mobility problems. We both have DNRs, so Matt and I had him taken off the ventilator so that his body could join his essence/soul. We are all believers so we know we will see him again in heaven.

Memo line = "fire fund (memory of Bassett)" through one of the following:
PayPal: Altadena Baptist Church @altadenabaptist
Zelle: altabap@aol.com
Check: Altadena Baptist Church, PO Box 91055, Pasadena CA 91109