DAVID WILLIAM TENNANT

March 14, 1941 – June 6, 2024

David Tennant drove down the beach and into the next adventure just like Danny and Sandy in the finale of Grease . His stereo was blasting because he loved high-fidelity sound, cranked up as loudly as possible. From his point of view, music wasn't music and movies weren't movies (and he loved both) unless he heard every instrument and felt each note –complete with chest-pumping bass –in his bones. Whatever his exit music was, it was beautifully, wonderfully LOUD.

David was a true son of Old Florida. Born and raised in Deland 83 years ago, he remembered a childhood and growing-up that seemed right out of the movies he so loved. He got into trouble that wasn't "real" trouble (according to him). As a boy, he once made his mother chase him across a burnt out field he'd set fire to because he wanted to watch the fire trucks come. As a teenager, he made his dear older brother John, who survives him, so mad that he'd regularly fire David at his job at the family's business, Tennant Printing, on Friday only to have his mom rehire him the following Monday. His cheerful and carefree nature seemed to keep that young trouble from ever becoming "real" trouble.

As a teenager and young man he chased all his interests, trying on jobs in radio, at the local movie theater, and for his family's business. For so many of those young years, radio was his one love. While still a teenager, his cheerful nature won him his actual true love: Lynn, his beloved wife and constant companion of 58 years, who met him as a young DJ working at WJBS. His first career as a disc jockey took him from WJBS to WOOO in Deland, WSBB in New Smyrna, and beyond. Whether on the air at a radio station, running Date 'n Skate in Deland, or running around with his pals, David brought joy to everyone around him. As he grew into a family man, he found a career in sales where his enthusiasm, kindness, and sweet nature made him a favorite of everyone he worked with. Upon leaving his sales position at United Record, he and Lynn, inspired by his family printing business, opened their own version of Tennant Printing called Tennant Communications, in Memphis, TN which they successfully ran for over 25 years until their retirement. Did retirement slow him down? No way! He and Lynn relocated to Auburn, CA to be closer to the daughters they adored, Meri (Merideth) and Mandy (Amanda), their spouses and grandchildren. There, David's boyhood love of movie theaters found new life! He and Lynn devoted countless happy hours to the restoration of Auburn's historic State theater. They loved everything about Auburn from their friend community to their work on the theater. Retirement part 2 brought them back to Florida where David once again worked on the beach and drove on it every day. David never passed up a drive, especially on the beach.

A man without an unkind bone in his body, David laughed quickly and easily. Here are some places he laughed: In church, he got so tickled that he turned red and made the rest of his family start laughing so hard that the entire pew shook. On Sliding Rock in North Carolina, where his shriek upon hitting the cold water still echoes through the canyon to this day. On Space Mountain, which he rode with Mandy who, barely tall enough to be allowed on the ride, was the only one in the family who liked roller coasters. He'd never have let her miss out; Picnicking with the family in the Sierras which he proclaimed "too giant anty" and which his grandkids judged "too snakey",Watching Young Frankenstein, which gave him the giggles every time ; and lying in the bedroom whispering with Lynn, listening to Meri and Mandy joking and chatting in the living room of their beach condo. David was the kindly-est and most loving husband, father, and friend. On June 6, 2024, David Tennant peacefully and softly did what he always said he was doing on his lovely drives: eased on down the road.