David L. Sash Sr., 69, of Brownsdale, Minnesota, died on Thursday, Oct. 18, 2018, at Fairview Ridges Hospital emergency room in Burnsville, Minnesota, from complications of pneumonia after a long battle with lung cancer.  He had traveled to celebrate his 70th birthday with his honorary daughter, Nicole Scott.

David was born on Oct. 23, 1948, in Austin, Minnesota, to Elmer and Beverlee (Ekedal) Sash. He graduated from Hayfield High School in 1967.

David began over the road trucking in 1970, working for Atlas Van Lines of Rochester, Minnesota, E.L. Murphy Trucking of Eagan, Minnesota, D&T Trucking of New Brighton, Minnesota, and Triangle Enterprises of Delano, Minnesota. He traveled approximately 5,000,000 miles and earned numerous safe-driving awards over the years, including driver of the year in 1997. After Triangle Enterprises closed their doors in 2002, David attended South East Technical Institute for heavy equipment operation. He spent many years as owner operator semi driver. It was a tough life and in 2012, David was diagnosed with lung cancer.

A quiet solitary man, David spent the last six years on the family farm, where he grew up, fighting cancer. He enjoyed reminiscing about his childhood days. It gave him great pleasure and peace to be on the home place, driving to familiar sites and working on Elmer’s tractors. He was always trying to be helpful, no matter how ill he felt.

David had a passion for tinkering and restoring old vehicles. He recently devoted much time and effort to restoring his father’s (Elmer’s) 1984 Volkswagen Rabbit and a 1977 Ford F-150 pick-up.

He was especially proud of his son, DJ’s, accomplishments as a racer, owner and operator of The Shop in Duluth, Minnesota, an exclusive automotive business that also focuses on specialty cars. Dave was always eager to talk about DJ’s races, times and share pictures of DJ’s recently built racecars.

He was preceded in death by the mother of his sons, Karry (Sash-Esson) Reasor; his father and stepmother, Elmer and Josephine Sash; and his mother and stepfather, Beverlee and Roy Crowson.

David is survived by his sons, David (Tracy) Sash Jr, Duluth, and Eric Sash, Louisville, Kentucky; Nicole (Mathew) Scott, who was like a daughter; her children, Jordan, Jagger and Madison, Burnsville; granddaughter, Rebecca (Brian) DeMar, Superior, Wisconsin; great-granddaughters, Kenna and Ayla DeMar, Superior; brothers, Victor (June) Sash, Rochester, and Mark (Grace) Crowson, Seattle, Washington; sisters, Cindy (Steve) Howard, Pipestone, Minnesota, Bette (Baylen) Kreiter, Spokane, Washington, Wendy (William) Barrows, Salem, Oregon, and Jennifer (Gary) Sublett, Walla Walla, Washington; nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A memorial service is planned for May 2019 at Clasen-Jordan Mortuary in Austin.