His name is David Rounds. He is my friend. I miss him.

There is a man I know who I called my best friend. People knew him as the chairman of the WSD school board, a football and track coach, an athletic director, a teacher, a gruff and at times grumpy ol man, a Republican, a yeller and a screamer, and a community leader. To anyone lucky enough to be his friend he was just so much more.

I was told more than 30 years ago, when you first meet him you will either love him or hate him, there's no in-between with this guy. I loved him. He was a dog dad, a son, a brother, an uncle, and he was an honest friend, sometimes to a fault. I would tell him there's a difference between being honest and being brutally honest. Sometimes that line got blurred with him.

Many, many times over those 30 years he showed me the definition of loyalty and love through friendship. Once he considered you his friend it was for a lifetime. His friends knew what other people failed to see. Hidden under that gruff exterior was a soft heart filled with compassion, loyalty and a strong sense of right and wrong. My friend died doing what he loved, with friends he loved and with the dog he loved.

His name is David Rounds. He is my friend. I miss him.

RENEE POMMERENING

Osburn