On April 11, 2004, David C. Pollock passed away in Vienna, Austria. Dave was there doing a seminar when he was struck with an acute case of pancretitis. After surgery to remove a gall stone doctors discovered was blocking a duct to his pancreas, Dave appeared to be recovering well. The day after surgery he had a cardiac arrest for 30 minutes before he could be resuscitated. He remained in a coma until his death. See www.tckinteract.net for full details and information on his memorial service.
For those of us who live in the “ordinary spaces” of life, it’s hard to imagine that the day by day, simple things we do can ever amount to anything big enough to change the world. Dave Pollock’s life proves to us that they can.
Once the first word came of Dave’s collapse during a seminar in Austria, people around the globe regularly checked their emails and the Interaction web site, hoping against hope that the news about Dave would turn around…that he would emerge from his coma, that his wonderful brain, love of life, compassionate heart, and warm, gentle, yet humorous, spirit, would all reawaken and life would return to normal for us all.
Why did so many care? Because countless people in almost every country have been deeply impacted either directly or indirectly by this one man’s life and the relentless work he did on behalf of internationally mobile families everywhere.
How did he do it? With no major funding, no large organizational backing, a limited staff, no banners waving, Dave simply did what he felt called to do, a step, a day, a person, an opportunity at a time. Despite early skepticism that there was any “big deal” about raising children in a global lifestyle, Dave pursued the reality of what he had come to see and believe in his heart.
But I cannot write about Dave in the abstract alone. It is because of his quiet faithfulness that my own life changed forever and through that yours, if you have been impacted by Families in Global Transition. Not only did Dave teach me and countless others that we had a name for our global childhoods, that we were “Third Culture Kids” or TCKs, but he encouraged me twenty years ago to dare to publish my story, Letters Never Sent, because he promised me I was not alone in that story.
As the years went on and people around the world responded telling me their stories, I knew Dave was right. The issues of global family living were huge and the number of people involved in this lifestyle enormous.
After my three friends, Margie Becker, Christine Dowdeswell, Janet Fischer, and I, gathered around my kitchen table in Indianapolis one day to wonder how we could help others in our community learn to both deal with the challenges and maximize the many gifts inherent in this lifestyle, I called Dave. What did he think of our idea to hold a local, cross-sector, one day seminar to try and address these matters? And, by the way, if he thought the idea was good, would he consider coming to be our main speaker for it?
The audacity of that question astounds me in retrospect. Four ordinary women in Indianapolis with a slightly crazy dream were asking a world-renowned, heavily booked speaker to come in just two months time to a no-name, no-brand, conference in the mid-West—hardly a likely spot for a successful conference on international living. We couldn’t guarantee him one attendee besides our committee!
But David C. Pollock came. Because of him, others came, not only from Indy but from other places. He also accepted our invitation to be keynote speaker at our second and third FIGTs. In addition, he presented seminars for each of the first four conferences. We had no way to pay him but he came at his own expense because he cared and because he believed. And so it happened that FIGT was not only born but grew.
This story is one small example of how Dave lived his life—caring and giving to countless people in countless ways. Words cannot say how much we will miss Dave’s presence and leadership among us as a community of those seeking to address these important matters that relate to families in global transitions. Without doubt, the seeds he has planted in so many around the world will continue to flourish and grow—probably into ways even Dave could not have foreseen—but no one can replace the person that Dave was.
A final word. In June 2003, I saw Dave for the last time. At that World Reunion 2003 conference, he paid special tribute to his wife, Betty Lou, for not only allowing but supporting him through all these years where his many travels to help others took him away from her and his family at home. To Betty Lou and her family I would also say “thanks.” Please know that the work Dave did and the price you paid to give him the freedom to help so many others is not in vain. He has fought the good fight, he has finished his course, and I am sure he heard “Well done” when he arrived on the other side. But we will miss him. A lot.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible contribution to the David C. Pollock Scholarship Fund, you may make your check payable to Families in Global Transition. Please include a note clearly designating your gift for this purpose and mail it to:
1264 Merrycrest Drive
Memphis, TN 38111
You will receive a letter of thanks and receipt of your contribution for your tax records.
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