Rev.Dr. David Loomis

Rev. Dr. David "Doc" Loomis was born in 1935 and grew up in Pelham Manor N.Y. a suburb of New York City. He had a distinguished academic career. He graduated with honors from Williams College in 1956 in his jr. year he was tapped for the Garroyle Honor Society which choose 20 members in each jr. class. In his sr. year he was the president of the Williams College Chapel, and a member of the Washington Gladden Society. He received a theology degree from Union Theological Seminary, New York in 1960. He earned a Master\u0027s Degree in Human Development from Harvard University in 1965. He served as chaplain for the University of Maryland from 1965-75. He went on to work as a pre-kindergarten teacher for a year, a union organizer for three years, and as a minister of the Presbyterian Church in Bowie, Maryland for seven years. He was awarded a Ph.D. in 1982 from the University of Maryland. When he moved to Prescott, Arizona in 1985, he used his education on behalf of some of the least able people in our society: those with severe mental and physical handicaps. For 10 years he worked with Yavapai Exceptional Industries to help train personnel to deal with the developmentally disabled, and trained the disabled to perform basic assembly work. In 1995 he moved to Jerome, Arizona with the goal of writing a book to explore why so many severely disabled people are full of the joy of life, while others, far more capable and even wealthy, find life frustrating, worrisome and at times intolerable. "Happiness, Use It or Lose It" was completed in 2004 and picked up for publication by White Knight Productions in Canada in 2005. Loomis celebrated the life and happiness he wrote so eloquently about. He turned his Jerome yard into a miniature golf course, an obstacle course of hilarious some sculptures that were made of the junk that people threw away. His monument to Deni the Woodworker, his \u0027beloved companion\u0027 for the last 14 years, was a wall made of hundreds of rocks that had the shapes of hearts. The front yard sign that greeted cars as they went back and forth from Jerome was "Love Life." He died at the age of 75 from complications of cancer. He leaves behind Deni, his two sons Aaron, who just started on his new life adventure in Kauai, and Adam who resides in Prescott, a brother John Loomis who lives with his wife Kathy in Simsbury, Connecticut, many friends and relatives. A memorial party will be held in his Jerome home in July, date to be announced. All are welcome. An online guestbook is available at www.westcottfuneralhome.com