David Andrew Fastabend

West Point, 1974

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by John Shephard '77 on March 31, 2020:

I was deeply saddened and heartbroken to receive a call informing me that David Fastabend succumbed last week to the brain cancer that he battled for two years. David was a star, a scholar, a wit with a wonderful sense of humor, full of both wisdom and common sense, a good friend and brother, a good husband, a good father and grandfather, a good soldier, and a good, good man. I got to know him after he retired from the Army in 2009, and we worked together daily. Working with David was a delight and always a learning experience, and discussing the things that we cared about over a beer, or on long drives from DC down to Williamsburg, was even better (by coincidence, we each had apartments in Arlington, where we stayed during the work week, and our main homes in Williamsburg where our families lived). I last saw David with his stepdaughter Chloe in the fall of 2018. We were there to watch an Army football game with fellow old grads of the West Point Society of Williamsburg. David seemed in great spirits that day. I had learned of his surgery for brain cancer earlier in the year, and knew that early follow-up monitoring of his condition gave reason for optimism. I inquired about his health, and he said things still seemed positive. Soon after that, however, the news had turned and he and Karen were off to Germany for a type of treatment that was not available in the US, and we prayed. David deeply loved his wife Karen and the life they made together. He loved his daughter Sarah and son-in-law Eric, his step-daughter Chloe, and his grandson Connor. Talking about them made him smile. David also loved this part of Virginia, where he grew up. I will always remember David with a smile on his face. I will miss him.

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