David Wayne Blake

david blake
David Wayne Blake, 69, of Falls Church, VA, peacefully passed away on Thursday December 8, 2022, surrounded by his loved ones after a long battle with pulmonary disease. David was born on January 1, 1953 in Oak Hill, WV to Clyde and Nellie Irene (Comer) Blake. At 5 years old, he moved with his family to the Northern Virginia area and in 1970 graduated from Washington Lee High School. He had a love of cars, which lead him to his chosen profession as an auto mechanic. He thoroughly enjoyed camping with his family and friends, attending car shows and cruising the roads with his 2 hot rods. David was a devoted husband and father and loved striking up a conversation with anyone whom he met.

David is survived by his wife of 50 years, Kathy Sue (Browning) Blake and daughter Crystal Nicole Blake of Falls Church, VA; his brother Clyde Eugene Blake of Sophia, WV; his sister Loretta Joan Graham of Beckley, WV; and his many nieces, nephews and special friends. He is preceded in death by his parents Clyde Blake and Nellie Irene (Comer) Blake, his brother Roger Lee Blake and his sister Brenda Sue Ellison.

Services to honor David’s life will be held on Saturday December 17, 2022 at 2:00pm at Buckhall United Methodist Church (10251 Moore Dr. Manassas, VA 20111). A second service will be held in Beckley, WV at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Inova Health Foundation.

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  1. A truly special friend. We enjoyed Car Shows and Cruise with our cars.
    A friend that be highly missed. But will always be in our hearts. Enjoy your Cruiseing on those pearly clouds with your friends that met you there. Love and Miss you Dave.

  2. David, the fondest memories I have with you, are the many trips to Dover, to see the races. The sing a longs in the truck, the many names you came up with, about other drivers and then of course going to the casino after the races. I so enjoyed the game nights with everyone and of course the biscuit and gravy breakfasts! I truly enjoyed all the many stays at your home and all the good times we had. I will miss our conversations about life in general. Rest In Peace my friend, I will miss you, I love you, and I am sure I will see you again someday.

  3. I have a bunch….but one is his avid love of NASCAR most especially his love of Dale Earnhardt and his massive collection of die casts.
    Another is my memory of every Christmas. He always ended up working on someone’s car. He and dad and whoever else was around usually ended up under the hood or laying underneath someone’s car fixing something for the trip back home.

  4. So many memories flood my mind of you! Our camping trip with Maw and Paw Blake at VA Beach, our vacation at Harper’s Ferry when Tristan was a baby, and the many visits at your house over the years that bring joy to my heart! You were the best uncle a niece could have and I will love and miss you with all of my heart! Thank you for the loads of fun and happiness you brought to my life! I’ll love ya forever until we meet again!
    Love,
    Tammi

  5. Brother Dave, you helped me pick out my first vehicle and my last! All those summers I came to visit and you took me to all the sites in and around DC, you must have been bored out of your skull. You had probably seen them time and time again but you would make sure that I got to look at anything and everything I wanted to.
    Then we would get meatball hoagies and go watch the airplanes land and take off. I got such a thrill out of that Again, you saw that everyday, no big deal but because I liked it, you indulged me.
    Going and getting banana splits at Friendly’s right down from the filling station. Leo’s.
    Those are just a few that come to mind.
    Loved you as my brother respected you as a man because you earned it and deserved it. Proud to call you brother and friend. ❤️?

  6. Papa Blake (aka Dad to me) was a hilarious guy and could crack a joke as good as he could take one. I am an “adopted” daughter via my good friend Crystal, but I always felt like family. Dad, you are missed and you were so funny…also stirring up some trouble when you could hahaha. Thanks for having me as part of your extended family. It was a blessing to have met you and had you in my life for the years you were earthside.

  7. Q: What will you never forget about David?

    A: Uncle David and I shared a love of Grandma’s pumpkin pound cake! He is the one and only man that I know that would bake one himself when he wanted one. And, it was fabulous!! Every time I make one, it always reminds me of him! I will always love him for being a loving and caring uncle! I love you, Aunt Sue and Crystal! ❤️❤️❤️

  8. Not too many people in this world can say they’ve had two dads growing up like I did. And not too many people can say they’ve shared the same interests with both dads as well. We shared the love for cars, Chevy’s, NASCAR, Dale Earnhardt, drag racing, speed, car shows, tools, fixing things, building things, and problem solving.
    Some of my earliest memories with Dave is waiting as a kid for him to come home from work and for him to go across the street to Mr. Petty’s carport to work on cars for the evening. I then would ask for permission from my parents to go, run down the street, and wait at the curb for Dave to come to the end of Mr. Petty’s driveway to wave me across street. Of course, I always had a rag in my back pocket and I also knew he kept me around for my small hands to reach those tight places working on cars. I remember when the garage was built behind his house, and we moved to working on cars in the garage. I was always amazed at how he could figure out what was wrong with a car. I spent many of evenings watching him work on cars plus having late night Hershey candy bars with him as well.
    In May of 1986, both dads took me to my first NASCAR race at Dover, which would turn into a yearly event. We would see Geoff Bodine in the #5 Levi Garrett Chevy Monte Carlo win that day. We spent many hot Sundays in Dover watching races and having good times.
    Some of the best memories was in the 90’s when we took the Chevy Nova drag racing at Maryland International Raceway on Saturdays. I always remember helping to get the car on/off the trailer and being in the staging lanes during burnouts. I remember the one night he had me run all the way back to the Suburban to get the white shoe polish so we could change his time on the windshield at the last minute. We learned a lot about the games people play with bracket racing.
    We also went to Dover in the late 90’s to the NASCAR driving school, which again was cool to do with both of my dad’s. Everyone got a good laugh that day because I got in trouble for all but passing the pace car when you were supposed to keep 3 car lengths back. I know there is a photo somewhere of all of us in victory lane that day.
    Probably the best memory though was back around 2002-2004 when we worked on my dad’s 1970 Chevy Panel truck together and the night we turned the key to fire the engine for the first time. That was a big high five that night. Dave put a lot of hours into that truck that he didn’t have to, it was fun to see the outcome. All the car shows we attended after that were fun times.
    I could go on for hours about all the different good times and laughs we’ve shared together. I know he cherished being the best man at my wedding as well. I know he’s in a good place now surrounded by lots of good people we all love!

  9. Q: How did you meet David?

    A: It was 2001 and I had started Dating Larry Loar. Dave’s best friend. I was nervous because Larry had talked about him so much, I knew this was an important person to him. We walked in and Larry greeted him with the ever famous Hello Honey greeting and I walked In behind him. Immediately I was greeted like family and after a few minutes realized the friendship these two had. We spent many a day turned into evenings at one another’s house playing games. And some days just us girls while the two of them hovered over a car. Traveling car shows and just spending time with our family. There is nothing that could be asked, that I would do for Dave , Sue and Crystal. He will be truly missed but Larry and Chuck will keep him busy in heaven’s garage till we get there.

  10. SANDRA LOAR
    Q: How did you meet David?

    A: It was 2001 and I had started Dating Larry Loar. Dave’s best friend. I was nervous because Larry had talked about him so much, I knew this was an important person to him. We walked in and Larry greeted him with the ever famous Hello Honey greeting and I walked In behind him. Immediately I was greeted like family and after a few minutes realized the friendship these two had. We spent many a day turned into evenings at one another’s house playing games. And some days just us girls while the two of them hovered over a car. Traveling car shows and just spending time with our family. There is nothing that could be asked, that I would do for Dave , Sue and Crystal. He will be truly missed but Larry and Chuck will keep him busy in heaven’s garage till we get there.

  11. My name is April Bania and I have had the privilege of calling Dave my friend, but more importantly, adopted father for the last 14 years. I met Dave soon after I met Crystal, as she and I grew as nurses together on night shift at Fairfax Hospital. Crystal and I soon became inseparable besties. In those days, before Dave’s health declined, he would drop off and pick up Crystal from work. You see, the walk from the garage to our building in the large Fairfax Hospital campus is a bit of a hike. It could seem like miles, especially in the fridged winter moths ice skating down the sidewalk. This was the first time I experienced the incredible kind and generous heart Dave had. Not only did he care and love his daughter Crystal so much that he would wake up at 7am to drive her home, but he went out of his way to drive me to my car because he was worried about me as well. As you all well know, Dave was great at striking up a conversation with just about anyone – the two-minute drive to the garage was never long enough to finish our conversation.

    Many mornings after our 12-hour night shift, we went out to breakfast together. Sometimes just the three of us and sometimes other co-workers joined. If you know Dave, you know he loved to eat a good meal and some sweets so he never passed up the opportunity for breakfast. Our two-minute drive to the garage soon turned into conversation on where to eat – IHOP, Denny’s or Arby’s. We even had “our” waitress or waiter at each place because we all frequented them so often and Dave could talk to anyone, especially if it was about cars.

    I asked him for advice about my car because my own father lives in Colorado. And he repaired and changed the oil in our cars more times than I can remember. Once, my husband Abin joined him in the garage for a tune up and oil change. He couldn’t have been happier to have the company and someone to show how it all works. After a long while Dave and my husband came back into the house chuckling. Dave was so enthralled in conversation while doing the oil change that he poured the entire amount of new oil into the car and had forgot to put the oil cap back on and all then new oil came pouring out. He blamed it on Abin of course!

    More and more it felt like Dave was my Dad too. He worried about me getting to work safe, picking me up and taking me to work in bad snow. His family included me and my husband in holidays and family trips. He made us feel safe and lowed. He questioned the bad decisions and cheers me on in my triumphs. Fixed those things he could. Even drilling holes in gingerbread houses with his power drill to keep things together for us. Humoring Crystal and I when we bought him a Gumby shirt to make fun of his lack of teeth.

    Now those who knew Dave, knew he could be a strong worded man if he felt passionate about something. He would tell you what he would do about it. Most of the time embarrassing Crystal for talking that way. But you couldn’t let his strong will confuse you, he had a soft spot in there too. I felt his love many times. Especially during one of the hardest times in my husband and my life, as we battled eight years with infertility. He cried with us in our triumphs and losses. Our infertility journey led us to New York for a life changing surgery. I have a memory vivid as the day it happened, standing on the curb of a NY City sidewalk, on the phone with Crystal, Dave and Sue, telling them the news on our embryo report. He cried tears of joy for us.

    And when we finally won our battle and my daughter was on her way, his bottom lip and chin quivered, trying to hold back the tears of joy the day we told him. And he was right there helping with my baby shower. He couldn’t wait to meet her. And when my daughter was born, Dave and Sue were one of the first people to welcome her at the hospital. He loved her like his own grandchild and she loved him too. She called him PawPaw. When he got his cancer diagnosis and was in the hospital, she worried about her PawPaw. She became his “little nurse”, as he called her. She came to the hospital and told him “Dink dink PawPaw, dink” because he wasn’t drinking enough water. She walked with him in the hallways of the hospital, holding his hand. He thought it was the best thing when she had to make sure his feet were covered up with a blanket when she visited him. I’m so glad that she will always have the memory of him.

    Watching his health decline over the past five years has been difficult. And we didn’t know he would leave us so soon. I’m so sorry that we have lost our bonus Dad and PawPaw. I find comfort in knowing he is in the arms of Jesus. No longer in pain, no longer sporting an oxygen cannula in his nose, breathing easy. I just hope that I remembered to thank him enough for loving me.

  12. SANDRA LOAR
    Q: How did you meet David?

    A: It was 2001 and I had started Dating Larry Loar. Dave’s best friend. I was nervous because Larry had talked about him so much, I knew this was an important person to him. We walked in and Larry greeted him with the ever famous Hello Honey greeting and I walked In behind him. Immediately I was greeted like family and after a few minutes realized the friendship these two had. We spent many a day turned into evenings at one another’s house playing games. And some days just us girls while the two of them hovered over a car. Traveling car shows and just spending time with our family. There is nothing that could be asked, that I would do for Dave , Sue and Crystal. He will be truly missed but Larry and Chuck will keep him busy in heaven’s garage till we get there.

  13. my memories of David were many good ones. David was such a cut-up and always made me laugh. I would always ask how he was feeling and he would answer “With my figures”. His love of cars, was always very knowledgeable about fixing them when they stopped working. He was my go-to guy about cars. David was my brother, not just a brother-in-law. We love you David and you will be so missed. Love always and you will always be in our hearts. Your sister, Janie and family.


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