Son of Dr. David Stennick and Helen Fick Stennick, David Henry Stennick, Jr. was born in Lodi, Ca, November 3, 1924, and passed away on May 8, 2018. David graduated from Lodi High School in 1942, where he played football and basketball on two champion teams. In January 1943, his attendance at Sacramento College was cut short when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps during WWII. At age 18, he served in Africa, Italy, Egypt, and South America. He also served in the South Pacific, Guam, and the Phillipines as a flight radio operator and radio navigator. David had the honor of being assigned to the four-airplane mission that delivered President Franklin Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in 1942. David proudly served his country in WWII and had the utmost respect and gratitude for his Japanese-American classmates, their sacrifices and their courage in battle and in internment camps. After his discharge from the service in 1945, he attended College of the Pacific in Stockton, CA.
David met his future wife Adeline in 1948, in Lodi CA, where she was a newly-arrived school teacher from Gonzales, CA. At the time, he was employed by the Lodi Fire Department, and later took a sales position with the Colgate Palmolive Company. In 1962, he joined Tokay Motors car dealership, and then Peters Pontiac-Cadillac-GMC in Lodi, CA. In 1973, David was among those salesmen honored at the Cadillac Crest Club Recognition Banquet at Harrah’s Tahoe. He also worked for Pacific Bell Telephone as a District Manager. David retired in 1986 to “join his friends in golf.”
David’s life-long passion was golf. At the age of 69, he won the NorCal Golf Association President’s Flight at Pebble Beach, CA. Throughout his golfing life, David made several holes-in-one, and in 2015, at the age of 90, he made a hole-in-one at the Poppy Ridge Golf Course in Livermore, CA. David played golf in Portugal, Scotland, Hawaii, Mexico, and on numerous courses across the US.
In his younger years, David loved to hunt and fish, and traveled to Montana and New Zealand to pursue those activities. In his later years, he enjoyed the outdoors and would always note when the Sandhill Cranes passed through Lodi on the Pacific Flyway.
David was very active in civic and fraternal organizations in Lodi. Among these were the Elks Lodge, the Eagles Lodge, and the IOOF. David was a charter member of SIRS. Since 1975, David has been a proud member of
Alcoholics Anonymous, and put himself, body, mind, heart, and soul into reaching out and supporting his fellow friends in AA.
In their retirement, David and Adeline went on Elder Hostel trips to New Orleans and New Mexico, and traveled extensively in Switzerland and New Brunswick, Canada to visit relatives.
David is survived by his loving wife of sixty-seven years, Adeline Stennick, his four children, Amanda Stennick of Sacramento, CA; Joan Stennick of San Francisco CA; Dirk Stennick, of San Francisco CA; and David Stennick III, and daughter-in-law Genie Stennick, of Anaheim, CA; his sister Sandra Brady of Sacramento, CA; and his cousin, Janet Greene of French Lake, New Brunswick, Canada. David is also survived by two beautiful granddaughters, Emma Stennick and Kate Jolie Olsen.
Asked the question “What is the greatest gift you have received in life?” David answered, “My wife Adeline and our four children.”
Viewing of the body will be on May 16 and 17, at the Donahue Funeral Home, 123 North School Street; a rosary will be held Thursday, May 17 at 7:00 p.m. at Donahue Funeral Home. Memorial services will be Friday, May 18 at 11:00 a.m., at St. Anne’s Catholic Church, 215 West Walnut Street, with interment immediately following at Lodi Memorial Park and Cemetery, 5750 East Pine Street. A reception will follow at the Oddfellows Hall, 6 South Pleasant Avenue.