David Glenn Aldridge

David Glenn Aldridge, 73, formerly of Richland, MO, passed away May 24, 2023, at his home in Holts Summit with his wife Eileen by his side. Dave was born September 12, 1949, to Albert and Wanda (Whetstone) Aldridge in Cleburne, Texas. Dave grew up on a farm owned by his grandparents, David and Gladys Whetstone, in Sand Mountain, Alabama, where he helped with the family’s flower sales business from the time he was a young boy. His mother became a teacher in the Seventh Day Adventist parochial school system, and Dave later lived in Bryant, Alabama, and Montgomery, Alabama, where she taught school. He had fond memories of the pecan trees that grew along the streets in Montgomery. Dave lived in Pine Mountain, Georgia, for a brief time during his childhood for another of his mother’s teaching jobs. He said her salary was only $150/month, and he often only had one bean sandwich to eat for the entire day. He recalled looking through a Betty Crocker cookbook and crying because they didn’t have ingredients to cook any of those good sounding foods. The neighbors they rented a house from had a television, and Dave and his sisters occasionally got a special treat of going over to watch a few shows. He also remembered playing a lot of baseball with friends. Dave did very well in grade school and skipped both 2nd and 4th grades. When he was in 7th grade, he was sent to Bass Memorial Academy Boarding School in Lumberton, Mississippi, and he had to work on the school’s dairy farm to help pay for his tuition. He attended Laurelbrook Academy boarding school in Dayton, Tennessee, for 8th and 9th grade, and there he had to work in a nursing home to pay for tuition. He completed 10th-12th grade at Collegedale Academy in Collegedale, Tennessee, where he worked in grounds maintenance. He remembered being so poor at that time that he did not have winter clothes or decent shoes. He said the Seventh Day Adventist Dorcas Society, a women’s ministry, bought him a new leather coat and some winter boots one year, and it was the most generous thing that had ever happened to him. He graduated from Collegedale Academy at age 16 and took a job at the Little Debbie assembly plant where he was the Line Manager for Chocolate Swiss Rolls. Dave later moved to Missouri, and his various jobs included working at a filling station, building grain elevators, making wooden pallets, and working at the Chrysler plant in St. Louis. Dave moved to Columbia, Missouri, in 1977 and worked for an industrial cleaning and laundry business. Other jobs during this time included being a Singer sewing machine salesman, being a janitor at University Hospital, and working at a JCPenney warehouse. In 1979, he completed an 8-week welding training course and helped with the construction of the Callaway Nuclear Plant near Fulton, Missouri. Between 1979 and 1984, he worked his way from apprentice to journeyman to foreman. He said this was his favorite job of the many that he had throughout his life. Dave met Eileen Tommie in 1981 at the Ranch House, a country dance bar in Columbia, Missouri. They were married June 1, 1982 and moved to Richland, Missouri, in 1984 to take over a guttering business. He owned and operated Aldridge Gutter Service for approximately 15 years. Other business ventures he took on during that time were running Eileen’s Place restaurant and AA Horse Trailers welding business, both in Richland. He obtained his real estate and broker’s licenses and worked in realty for a brief time. He also sold cars at Mid Missouri Motors. He later returned to his love for welding and worked at Tracker Marine as an assembly line boat welder for 6 years. He ended his career at G3 Boats where he worked as a welder for another 11 years. He was known there for always picking up extra shifts and doing any work that needed to be done, even if it was sweeping floors or moving boxes. He enjoyed visiting with his children and grandchildren in North Carolina, Poplar Bluff, and Ashland. He attended Southern Boone basketball and soccer games to watch his granddaughters play every chance he got. In 2018, Dave was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, and he and his family knew he would only have a few years of life left. In 2019, Dave and Eileen moved to Holts Summit, Missouri, with Eileen’s daughter Crystal Gateley and her husband Curt so they would have more support as Dave’s health steadily declined. In his final years, he enjoyed an occasional meal out at Culver’s and many take-out nights from Applebee’s, Pizza Hut, Dos Primos, and Big Whiskey’s. He spent his days watching television with Eileen in their side-by-side recliners. He was a big NFL, NASCAR, and college football fan. He loved the Kansas City Chiefs and got to see them win the Super Bowl twice in his last few years. Dave is survived by his loving wife Eileen of the home; one step-daughter, Crystal (Curt) Gateley of Holts Summit, Missouri; two daughters, Soncire “Soni” (Thomas) Pitts of North Carolina, and Lakota Myers of Illinois; and five grandchildren, Katrina Gateley, Lauren Gateley, Maxwell Douglas, James Myers, and Rebekah Myers. Dave was preceded in death by his parents and his sisters Jeanie Aldridge and Winona Harrison. Visitation will be held Tuesday, May 30, 2023, from 1 p.m. until service time at 2 p.m. at Memorial Chapel of Richland, followed by Celebration of Life Service beginning at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation at www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org

David Glenn Aldridge

September 12, 1949 - May 24, 2023