Page 72 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - September 2016

Stark Raving Fans

“He lled every room he entered with light and life.

The world is a dimmer place without my father.”
—Ma Stark

Combing through those photos as a child was a manager. It was closing time, and there was still a

interesting for Ma , who was searching for clues as lot of paperwork to do. I asked him to meet me at a
to what his father was like. “In one hazy blue image, local bar up the street in an hour. He went ahead,

my father could be seen in a Speedo and neoprene allowing me to close the restaurant. I walked into
top, his legs frozen in mid-kick. A xed to his back the bar expecting to see my father and then wrong-

was a diving tank. A mask, snorkel, ns and weight fully assumed he was in the restroom. I approached

belt accessorized his out t. Ahead of him, held for- the bartender for a drink only to see my father was
ward in his hand, was a large spear gun. Now, being si ing to my le . His presence had been obscured

a latch key kid allowed me to cultivate an expansive by four or ve a ractive young women who were
imagination. Mind you, I grew up in the days before clinging to his shoulders and giggling. In the short

video games, so entertainment came in the form hour my father was in this bar, his gi of gab allowed

“We have so many great of cultivated fantasy worlds and my imagination him to make some new friends. I admired that. See,
memories of trips, plays was pre y warped (the nut doesn’t fall far from the my dad was a ‘lighting professional.’ These girls were
at gammage, races,
concerts, barbecues — tree). The photos of my father were the gateways to like moths, and my father, he was like a porch light. I
an imaginary world, where my dad was the hero. His might have said, bug zapper, because he was – in his
anytime was a great time
if David was there,” says imaginary life in this photo had him searching the own mind — a lady killer, but my dad never took en-
Ashley Childers Baker
(Allen & Robin Childers’ depths of the Atlantic for a monstrous Great White.
ergy from a room the way a bug zapper might snu
“My father was larger than life in many ways, out the energy of a moth. Instead, he lled every
daughter), who took this
photo of David and her but his accomplishments through my imaginative room he entered with light and life. The world is a
5-year-old daughter Ella. screenplays paled in comparison to who he be- dimmer place without my father.”

“From the words of our came when, in the summer of 1986, he knocked on The lighting world echoes those feelings so elo-
Ellla, ‘I wish they had
phones in Heaven so we my door. My mother, a ball of nerves and clearly quently expressed by his children and friends. Dallas
could call him.’”
hesitant, encouraged me to open the door. I did and Markets — and the people whose lives he touched

looking down on me with a disarming smile was Da- whether through work or recreation — won’t be the
vid Stark, shark hunter extraordinaire. ‘Hello Ma ,’ same without David Stark among us.

he said. ‘I’m David (your father).’ The later statement His son added, “My dad, being who he was, did

became an inside joke of sorts. It was how he would not want a traditional ceremony and burial. He
sign his greeting cards to me, as if I couldn’t gure asked to be cremated and his ashes spread o the

out on my own who they were coming from.
coast of Maui. He did share with me on his last visit,
‘To my wonderful son, Happy Birthday! Love ‘If people want to get together for a drink and share

David (your father).’
stories, I guess I’d be ok with that, too.’ He always

“His baritone voice was shocking; the twinkle in did things a bit di erent.”
his eye was playful, and through our rst conver- While there is a memorial planned in Arizona by

sations I found out much about my father, and so his friends on September 10, I invite members of
ended my father’s imaginative career as a shark the industry to take time during the January Dallas

hunter. He was far from that. He was a lighting pro- Market to toast to David’s life, whether it’s a small

fessional, and over the years, I found out what that gathering at a showroom he frequented or just a
meant.
toast between two industry friends who meet up

“Many years and many visits later, my father randomly during Market. Let’s remember David in
ew in to meet me at the restaurant where I was
the manner he wanted.


70 enLIGHTenment Magazine | SepteMber 2016
www.enlightenmentmag.com