David Gilman Lougee
Aug. 15, 1941-Sept. 14, 2025
Palo Alto, California

David Gilman Lougee III grew up in Birmingham, Michigan and summered in Parsonsfield, Maine on a property his ancestors established in 1778.

One day after graduating from Williams College he married Carolyn Chappell, who had graduated from Smith College the previous week. Thereafter, for 62 years, the two of them made every decision, and did almost everything, together. With graduate degrees from the University of Michigan, including a Fulbright year in Mainz, Germany, Dave taught English at the University of Hawaii and Florida State University until he and Carolyn decided to seek greener pastures for the family, which by then included daughters Ellen and Lisa.

Dave was a loving and supportive partner. When Carolyn received an offer to join the History faculty at Stanford University in 1973, they jointly weighed the opportunity for Carolyn and the cost for Dave as well as likely benefits for the family as a whole. So for Carolyn and for the family, Dave resigned his position at FSU -- a move men rarely made in those days. Once settled in Palo Alto, he taught English at Stanford and then served for 26 years as Director of the Technical Communications Program in the Stanford School of Engineering.

He was a wonderful father, teaching his daughters and grandchildren to venture into the outdoors, to love books and stories, to recognize a good joke, and to follow through on their dreams. He was a dog-lover, perpetual jokester, poet, the world's best salad maker, good natured and affable. He and Carolyn traveled frequently to Europe, especially France, which they explored by car, bike, barge, train, and on foot.

Dave loved to read and to travel, and he lived a life in sports. He was a standout hockey defenseman at Williams and then played on a semi-pro team in Ann Arbor. Soon after arriving in Palo Alto, he discovered that Stanford had a club ice hockey team, so he skated for many years on the Stanford team. About the time he aged out of hockey, he took up tennis. He was a natural and was many times Club champion at Foothills Tennis and Swimming Club. And he began playing senior tennis with a steady partner. They traveled to clay-court, grass-court, and hard-court tournaments around the country and for years were ranked #1 nationally in their age group. For his daughters and their friends, he coached girls' softball and soccer. He was president of Foothills as well as head of several other local community organizations.

But the sport dearest to his heart was fly fishing. No joy was greater for him than wading in the river with the trout or steelhead. Trips he took with his buddies ranged from Alaska to Patagonia. Year-after-year favorites were Yellowstone, Alberta, the Trinity River, and tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys. Long afterwards he could remember and recount in amazing detail the fish he caught, where he caught them, and the particular challenge each presented.

At the end of August, the family threw a "Dave Fest," a celebration of his life and of himself wrapped around his 84th birthday. The weekend was filled with good cheer, memories and funny stories about Dave, love for him and each other, and sorrow at how much we would miss him. He was deeply moved by the gathering, and we were happy that he hung on until he could enjoy it.

Dave's family misses him every day: Carolyn Lougee; Ellen Barr Lougee (Chad Nelsen), Sam Lougee Nelsen, Keeler Lougee Nelsen; Elizabeth "Lisa" Lougee (Jonathan Feldman), Sasha Laura Feldman, Jessica Summer Feldman.

Tags: teacher/educator