David Arlen Baumgartner

After attending St. Francis High School, Dave joined the army a month prior to turning 18 and spent 3 years in Germany. After the Army he backpacked Europe for 3 months seeing as many sights as he could. He had so many amazing stories from this time. A few years later he took 3 months to backpack Mexico.

Dave met his wife Jane in the most surprising of ways, a set up between their young daughters, Amanda and Sarah. Dave was taking them on a camping trip and Jane needed to meet him prior to the camping trip. When he arrived at Jane’s home he saw a fly fishing magazine on her coffee table. The girls work was done! Dave had learned to fly fish the year prior (he had always done spin casting) and Jane wanted to learn how to fly fish (also only had done spin casting). Their tradition of catch & release fishing on Valentines Day in Bishop began. In addition, Dave was training to hike Mt. Whitney and Jane was training for her first triathlon. They helped each other train and found even more adventures! Biking from Rosarito to Ensenada (50 miles), Orienteering, Canyoneering (waterfall repelling), Adventure Races, Xterra races, scuba diving, and the list goes on. This shared love of exploring is what led Dave to propose to Jane on the top of Mt. Whitney.

Dave worked for Robinson’s May, most recently as Director of Accounts Payable. When Macy’s purchased the company, Daves job moved to Cincinnati. Dave and Jane didn’t want to move the family and found this was a great opportunity for new adventures. They planned during the next year and then Dave was off on his dream hike of the Pacific Crest Trail. It took him 5 ½ months to complete this hike, most of which h spent guiding a blind hiker he had mt on the trail known as Zero Zero. Dave’s trail name is “Just Dave” because he was a no frills kind of guy.

Dave had volunteered throughout his life with different organizations, but after being out on the Pacific Crest Trail for so many months and seeing all the Trail Angels helping folks along with trail builders to keep the trail travelable, he decided he needed to volunteer where his heart and passion were; in his backyard, the Angeles National Forest.

His volunteering included the following groups:

FRVC Fisheries Resource Volunteer Corps (with his wife)

AGO America’s Great Outdoors at the LA County Fair (with his wife)

RLC Restoration Legacy Crew (trail building where rock work was his expertise)

Sturtevant Camp as a Camp Host (with his wife)

SGWA San Gorgonio Wilderness Association, SGMHA – San Gabriel Mountains Heritage Association (with his wife & he was also employed here as the Program Manager/Educator).

Dave was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2021. He had 5 surgeries, chemo & radiation. The City of Hope had him on several trials, but his cancer was very aggressive.

From 2013 to May of 2024 (yes, he was trail building in April and helping with AGO in May this year), he put in 12,429 hours. In January he was awarded the Lifetime Presidential Volunteer award. Even though he was battling cancer for over 2 years, he still volunteered 781.5 hours from October ‘23 to May ‘24. He usually had over 1000 volunteer hours even during his cancer years.

Dave is survived by his wife Jane, 2 daughters, Amanda Baumgartner (husband Hermann Goss) and Melissa Deal (husband Jeremy), 4 step children, James Lafferty (wife Christine), Kathleen Lafferty, Sarah Brush (husband Tim) and Rachel Lafferty and 6 grandchildren, Conan Lafferty, Charli Deal, Jordyn Deal, Liam Deal, Luna Sanchez and Forest Goss. He is survived by his mother, Ginger Baumgartner, his brother Steven Baumgartner, and his sister Linda Goller. Dave is preceded in death by his father Kenneth Baumgartner.

The family will be continuing Dave’s tradition of fly fishing at the casting pond, where Jane will take over teaching their children and grandchildren one of his favorite past times.

David Arlen Baumgartner, age 64, of Duarte, California passed away on Saturday, June 1, 2024. David was born in Pasadena.