Dave Lemmon a Lewes man for all seasons

Dave Lemmon, DJ moniker "24 Karat Parrot," has passed away at the age of 66. Personally, I have never known Lewes without Dave Lemmon being a part of it.

Dave was a basketball star at Lewes High School. I once heard an old coach from P.S. DuPont say, "We'd go down to Lewes and have to deal with that damn Dave Lemmon. A sweet jump shot and perfect hair."

I first saw Dave on the boardwalk in the summer of '75 after Frank Coveleski recruited me to be a Rehoboth lifeguard. "Lemmon" knew all the guards. In fact, he seemed to know every passing person on the boardwalk, and he had a better tan than anyone else, but there was no way on God's green earth that Dave Lemmon was buying into the lifeguard hype and sitting on a stand all day long.

Dave was a physical education teacher and carpenter craftsman-type guy, an extrovert with skills; he always looked in shape and never came to work with a bad or burned-out attitude.

I once said to my wife, "If I ever need a blood transfusion, get it from Dave Lemmon. I've never been around a guy so up all the time." Dave laughed at what he said himself and at what you said, too. It's hard not to like a guy like that.

Dave also had a brief stint as Cape's soccer coach, but don't organize a moment of silence, because Dave never had a moment of silence in his life. The student section at last week's Sussex Tech game more reflected Dave Lemmon's journey on this earth. The middle school track carnival began with Coach Lemmon at the Lewes school; his personality and style attracted all kinds of kids.

Ragtops on Route 1 was a Lemmon bar with him as DJ, and all the locals went there for awhile until we didn't 'cause that's how we do things.

Dave at Delaware games with his life longtime friend, Coach Ruth, and that wiry little dog Lucci  that had us all wondering "Why do we own hard-headed labs when we could have a Lucci Lemmon dog?" That was the greatest football dog ever; I'm sure Dave sneaked Lucci into games.

Dave's children, Karinne, a Cape field hockey frontline player, and Nick, a 13-6 pole vaulter, were full-tilt boogie like their dad and enigmatic like him -meaning one-of-a-kind personalities. Must have been a joyous trip for sure to grow up with a dad like Dave Lemmon.

Dave used the town of Lewes like his own party playground, waving from his boat on the canal, always a big smile and full-body tan, the hair thinned but still perfect.

A true town legend has left us, but if you knew him at all, remember he always made us smile.