David Blackwell

David Durr Blackwell, age 65, departed this life in Dothan, Alabama on May 23, 2013. Born May 14, 1948, David loved the South and lived in his native Mississippi, in north Florida, and in south Alabama all his life. He was a graduate of Stone High School, Perkinston Junior College, and Louisiana Tech University, where he attained his degree in forestry. He worked as a forester, a profession he dearly loved, for International Paper Company, Southwest Forest Industries, and Smurfit–Stone Container Corporation, and served after his retirement as a consultant forester and an independent businessman treating trees.

David was a man of many talents and a delight to know. Besides playing football and baseball, he was what Prof. Sam Jones called a "fine bass player," playing the Sousaphone in the marching and concert band in college at Perkinston. You would not want to engage him in a game of Trivial Pursuit, as he was not only curious about everything, he actually knew about the things he investigated. He followed baseball. He hunted and fished. He loved all things manly, and he was a role model. He was always busy, but never too busy too listen.

With David, what you saw was what you got. He did not preach Christianity. He just lived his life, and the evidence of his faith was there before you. What a guy.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Leonard Adam Blackwell, Sr. and Myrtis Pearl Durr Blackwell. He is survived by his loving wife Patricia Lockamy Blackwell, his children Jennifer Linn Blackwell who is about to marry Brian Davis, with David's approval and Adam Vance Blackwell and his wife Kylee and their son Tucker Blackwell, who was David's joy, along with the rest of his family; and his brother, Leonard Adam Blackwell II, and an extended family of nieces and nephews, in-laws, cousins and friends who love and cherish his memory.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, May 26, 2013 at Landmark Park Auditorium in Dothan, Alabama with visitation beginning at 2 PM then a tribute celebrating David's life at 3 PM. Please inquire at the gate of the park for directions to the site. Interment will be at the Blackwell Family Cemetery on Blackwell Farm Road in the Success Community in Harrison County, Mississippi on June 1, 2013 at 3 PM. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to Landmark Park Friends of the Forest Fund, c/o Landmark Park, P.O. Box 6362, Dothan, AL, 36302.