Daniel James, Best Friend to All

My memories of Dan begin back in the Woodruff Elementary School Days.  Both of our Moms worked at Woodruff, Dan attended there, and I would go work for my mom organizing books during the summer when they were still in year around school.  Who would have thought back then that Dan Boatwright would become one of my very best friends.  (Now I know everyone else thinks he was their best friend too and it's probably true, that's just the kind of person he was, he made you feel like you were the most important person in the world to him.)  Our life moved onto 6th grade at Mount Logan Middle School.  Now let's talk about having guts as a  6th grader, Dan came to my house and up to my door and personally brought me chocolates and the sweetest Valentines Day card ever.  Now if we all remember the days of 6th grade, even when you were going together you never talked to each other, let alone ask someone out in person - that was always something you had your friends do for you, but not Dan, he was a real man, even back in 6th grade! 

 

Okay, let's talk about the best class of my entire school career!  Mrs. Cottle's 9th grade Geography class!  Dan, Melodie and I were just too much together.  Mrs. Cottle's seating chart was set up alphabetically, and it just panned out that Dan, Melodie and I were all in that back left corner.  Oh the trouble we caused her!  (Let's be honest, the trouble was Dan cracking jokes and Melodie and I laughing and egging him on even more, it was awesome!)  Now, I know we were her favorite students because she really would laugh at us (more like Dan) on occasion, but, we just talked too much, and liked each other too much.....so.....she moved us to each corner, to be as far away from each other as possible....Unfortunately, it was still pretty close together, you just had to raise your voice a little bit louder.  Mrs. Cottle did send me a wedding gift though...so she didn't hate us forever!

 

Days at Logan High with Daniel James were priceless.  Starting with Freshman class office all the way up to SBO's our Senior year.  If it weren't for Dan, oh how our skits would have sucked! and if it weren't for Dan, our meetings could have been a lot shorter,...but definitely not as fun!  If it weren't for Dan we wouldn't have had those beautifully creative signs he would make....oh wait, that was his sisters that were real creative, but if I can remember right, Dan did make a few interesting ones, and of course we couldn't have even put them up if it wasn't for our tall glass of water!  Great memories from those Sunday Night Decoratings!  Okay, can we please laugh really hard for a second and think about Dan's SBO election video!  Anybody, please remind me what the title was DB1 or DB something, anyways, it was a play off of Calvin Klein's advertisements that were black and white and would show models in suductive(sp) poses and saying a sophisticated word.  So that's what Dan did, he wore a black turtleneck, took shots of him all over Logan High, and oh the faces he'd pull!  I know it's those suductive faces that won him Homecoming King!  It made the girls go wild!  If anyone has a copy of that, or any of his other classic videos I'd sure love to see them again! 

 

Dan really does have a heart of gold.  When I think back on his life, he is a hard one to explain...because he wasn't your typical guy.  There wasn't a specific "group" that you could place him in, because he seriously was just everyone's friend.  Whether you were a jock, a skater, a techi, a music person, a friend from the old neighborhood, a teacher, a lunch lady or an average Joe, you didn't just know Dan, but he really was your friend, and he cared about you.  It was really neat to see the relationship that he had with his family.  During those high school years it is so easy to get caught up in your own life and your friends and being cool that you don't think about spending time with your family, but you could tell that that was the time that Dan cherished the most.  What a riot to be in that Boatwright home, with all of those hilarious personalities just feeding off each other!  Sarah, you gave a great description of what it's like to hug Dan, shoving your face into his chest.  He was the funnest person to hug!...and you could count on getting several of his hugs whenever you saw him!  Do you all remember the poems and odes that he would write?  Well, he wrote a few for me and I just ripped my house apart to find them, but I must have put them in such a secret place I hid them from myself...but I kept those odes in my purse for years and years and would pull them out everytime I needed a laugh or a smile. 

 

Even after high school when we got doing others things, everytime we'd see each other our relationship had never skipped a beat.  I can not believe that sweet Daniel James is gone.  It really makes you realize how precious life is.  I care about him and love him soo much.  I wish I could go back a few years and talk to him more and see him more.  Why do we let life get in the way of our relationships with the ones we love.  Boatwright family, Cache Valley misses you soo much.  Everytime I drive past that cute red brick house on 2nd East I think of you all.  Please know that we are all thinking about you and praying for you.  You have no idea the love that is had for you coming straight out of Cache Valley.  Thank you for putting this blog together, I've needed a way to share my thoughts about that wonderful Dan and I've needed even more to hear them from other people.  I don't know how to finish this up, but I guess I'll just promise to take Becky's challenge to carry on the goodness that Daniel James so easily showed to us.  Chris, you sweet sweet mother, I've been thinking the most about you.  I could have been such a better friend to your son, but please know how much I love him.  You are an amazing person and have raised such amazing children.  I know we can all see Dan again and that he's in a better place.  You're so lucky to have those wonderful daughters by your side.  I love you and your family and wish you peace and comfort during this time and in the future.  Take care. 

 

Stacey (Anderson) Keller

staceyaggie@yahoo.com

208-251-7079

Preston, ID