He was a man whose visions were painted on a canvas which, like the Serengeti Plains, were truly limitless. Answering a call to service in a most distant land at a time when few dared, he grew to love the tribes of Tanganyika and gradually, they would love him back.

With his equally dedicated and compassionate wife Eunice, he would paint an unwavering path for his new land. It was a partnership of strength; Eunie's generosity of spirit allowed no discussion as to the identity of the Senior Partner. It would be that most unusual preacherman who would bring the Lord's gospel and so much more to his new countrymen and women. In his trademark cowboy boots and black hat from the Northern plains, the good Reverend gave them spiritual comfort delivered with equal ease in kiswahili and kimaasai, but he also served promises of a life of better health and well-educated children. Others had made promises before him; the Simonson partnership would deliver. It delivered a string of circuit churches where he would deliver solace at times of famine, devastation and grief, but also shine that special Simonson light on joyous occasions of marriage, birth and baptisms - not necessarily in that order, for this God's messenger was an unorthodox man. A strong adherence to the often rigid rules of his church would not be his path; he would reach out to his flock in ways that made sense to them - and him - in their own cultural context and he would reach them. When they rejoiced, he would celebrate with them and when they were in pain, so was he.

To Dave Simonson, road blocks were no more threatening than the linebackers he tackled on the football fields of his youth in America. They were momentary distractions, but they would not block his forward motion. To Dave, the impossible just took a little longer; no rules, no authority would stand between him and the completion of the goals he had set for himself and his people - his people.

There would be schools, many, many schools, because of Operation Bootstrap and finally the Maasai girls would have their own school and each year many of them would realize an impossible dream -graduating from Concordia College in a far-away land of frigid snow storms and warm hearts.

His stubborn and dedicated pursuit of his visions have given quite literally hundreds of thousands of children an education they had not dared pray for. An equal number of young and not so young Tanzanians had their burns, their broken bones and their sick bodies healed because of Dave Simonson and, equally importantly, Eunie's Back Door Clinic, an informal and hardly licensed health care delivery system at their gracious home in the hills of Arusha, where several thousand mamas with sick children on their backs would quietly, hopefully walk up and say: Hodi! - knowing that the door would be opened at any hour and that a saintly woman would make them better. Healthcare was the Junior Partner's domain, but the Senior Partner would make sure it was delivered on a grand scale as Selian Hospital took shape.

Dave Simonson was a man of many parts: an extraordinarily generous man, a man of undisputed talent and intellect,a man of unrestricted vision - and a complex man who could be difficult and sometimes acted in ways his friends would not understand. He was who he was, and Tanzania is a very different, a very much better place, because he was.

Tanzania grieves with Eunie, Steve, Naomi, Nate, Becky and Jonathan. Today, the Simonson family is hurting and that family includes a very large part of Tanzania and a wide circle of friends which touches many foreign lands. But Tanzania also celebrates an extraordinary man and an extraordinary life which have made his corner of a vast continent a much better place.