David Gary Welch, the second-born son of Gary Clive Welch and Romona Jean Graveley Welch arrived in this world on February 4, 1958. From the beginning, he was a happy, precocious child and it soon became apparent that he was very gifted athletically. He walked by the time he was nine months old and rode a bicycle very shortly after his fourth birthday.

By the time Dave was two, he regularly accompanied Dad and his older brother on fishing trips to Canyon Ferry Reservoir (“the lake”) or, occasionally, to the Missouri River or surrounding creeks. It seemed like Dave always caught the biggest fish on his favorite red and white daredevil lure, although Dad took that honor on rare occasions. Mom would often tell people how her kids would catch fish that were as long as their legs. Often, her audience was skeptical. However, the photographs still exist to prove that she was not exaggerating. Later these trips progressed into Sunday picnics at the lake with his parents, siblings, and extended family with lots of conversation, swimming, and water skiing.

Ah, there was always the hunting. By the time Dave was three, he started going hunting with Dad. There is an old slide photograph of the first time Dave was along when Dad got an elk. Dave was four at the time. In those days, Dave had a notoriously weak stomach, and he had lost his breakfast only a few minutes earlier. If you knew him, it is discernable from his expression in the photograph, but make no mistake, it clearly shows how much he is enjoying himself. Dave remained an avid life-long hunter and fisherman. Even before he was a teenager, Dave would often be camping out in such places as 6-mile, Avalanche, Longfellow Park, Crazy Creek, and countless others. There was one instance when he failed, though. He constantly tried to bag a goose with a bow and arrow. He could never get quite close enough while they were on the ground and when he shot up into the air, the geese would simply swerve around the arrow. However, it terrified Mom. She lived in constant fear that one of those arrows that he shot into the air would come down and hit him or one of his siblings. Dave just laughed it off.

Before he was old enough to ride a bike, Dave had a red, 10-inch tricycle that he rode everywhere – the half mile to the mailbox and to both haystacks in the field. If you have never ridden a small trike through alfalfa stubble, just try to imagine how hard that is and whether any kid today would even attempt it. As he got a little older, Dave rode his bike everywhere, including the six miles each way to town to little league practice. No wonder he could jump so high. He was always outdoors and spent a great deal of time with his siblings. An old photo shows him with his brothers and sister and Bally (horse), and there is another of him with his brothers and sisters when he was about five in the weed patch that later became the front yard after the family had a lawn mower.

By the time he was nine in 1967, both at home and at up Birch Creek, Dave was cutting hay with one swather with Dad running the other one. By the next year, it was every day, and he started driving tractors and other equipment the 40-plus miles between Townsend and White Sulphur Springs. Dave continued running all types of farming and industrial equipment throughout his life. Throughout his life, everyone admired his superb skill at operating heavy construction equipment as well as off-road and over-the-road heavy trucks, and he was an experienced welder. Really, he could run any piece of equipment. In addition, Dave enjoyed over-the-road hay hauling with his brother and cousins.

When Dave attended Broadwater County High School in Townsend, Montana, he was a member of the National Honor Society. He was also on the football, basketball, and track teams, earning varsity letters in each. He had open knee surgery at the end of his freshman year the result of one of the many crashes on his dirt bike. Then, such surgery usually meant that future athletics were quite hampered, and the consensus was that anyone who had foot speed lost that ability. Nevertheless, Dave persevered and, as a senior, placed 5th at the State High School Track Meet in the 100-yard dash. He attended Montana State University briefly where he joined his brother on the track team for a year and made several new friends.

During his lifetime, Dave lived in Townsend, White Sulphur Springs, and other places in Montana, and for about 35 years, in Anchorage and Juneau, Alaska. Dave loved spending time with his parents, brothers, sisters, and friends. He was especially touched when they traveled to visit him. There is a favorite photo of Dave and Mom in Alaska, and you can see in his eyes how much it meant to him.

After a long battle with cancer, Dave passed peacefully into the next world on August 16, 2026. He will be sorely missed by his family and all who knew him. Dave is survived by his parents, son Clive, older brother Jack (Lynn), younger brother Pat (Debbie), and younger sisters Julie Thompson, Suzanne Crawford (Chuck Harvey), and Kathleen Welch (Quoc Ly-Huynh) as well as numerous aunts, uncles, cousins, and nieces and nephews.

Services will be held at Holy Cross Parish in Townsend, Montana at 101 S. Walnut St at 10 a.m. on Thursday, August 27th with burial and reception to follow.