What did make Dave remarkable was that he did know people from all over, and with his incredible memory, he would not only remember you and your name for years, he would also remember something else about you-maybe your sister and the fact that she was having surgery. If he met you years later, he would ask how she was doing. Amazing recall.
During the late 1970's, I was visiting with another Allied agent from Ames, George Kuehl and his wife Betty. They also had owned Aunt Maude's restaurant in Ames. George had just returned from a business trip in St. Louis, Missouri. He ran into a man at the St. Louis airport and George mentioned he was from Iowa. The guy asked if he knew Dave Hamilton. Wow!
Dave was a little slovenly, to say the least, but, you learned to overlook it. On one occasion, I called Dave to wish him a happy birthday and tried him at home. He lived in an apartment above a building he owned in downtown Grinnell. One of the field reps for Allied answered the phone and I could hear this load noise in the background. They were cleaning up Dave's apartment as a birthday gift to him. It was a Shop-Vac and it was being used to clean everything off his floor.
One thing Dave would do when he came home was empty his pockets of change and let it fall on the floor. This particular fieldman, Barry, found a bonus check from Allied to Dave in the amount of $10,000 laying on top of his refrigerator in an old cigar box. It had been there for some time. That was Dave.
On one incentive trip to Europe for agents of Allied, the charter plane stopped over at Bangor, Maine, to refill. Dave got off the plane to visit the fire chief or mayor of Bangor that he knew. Needless to say, the plane was delayed leaving from Bangor.
Well, lastly, the most famous Dave Hamilton story involving me personally was how he got my sister, Doris, tickets to see Elvis Presley in 1964. (see story on my blog -8/18/2014-Doris Eddy up close with Elvis-the king) Dave passed away a few short years ago, but, I will never forget him. People like Dave make life's journey a lot more interesting!
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