GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A pillar of Grand Rapids is facing his final moments. David Abbott is losing his battle with cancer.
"I never thought that this would be the way that I would go. And never thought I would go this quickly," Abbott said.
The former Festival of the Arts executive director sat down with me to remember and reflect his time here in GR.
Back on April 13, Abbott recently celebrated his 60th birthday.
"I have been blessed with meeting the most amazing people," he added.
His life was mostly spent here in Grand Rapids.
"My true joy, and my favorite thing in life, was a youth pastor for eight years at Westminster Presbyterian Church," Abbott said.
Many might recognize him for his time in the art scene.
"My pride and joy in working in the nonprofit was running the Festival of the Arts," he said. "We put on a world premiere ballet on the stage on that Saturday night of Festival, and it was a jam-packed crowd to see the ballet."
His longtime apartment in Heritage Hill displays his passion for the arts.
"So that's a brand-new portrait from an artist called Keemo," Abbott showed me. "It's in a very much Picasso style, to where it's fragmented, and it definitely is a favorite piece of mine."
Others know him from his creativity in finding the best fit. When he was younger, he managed A.K. Rikk's. As he got older, he worked at Fitzgerald's Men's Store.
"To have had these seven years working with Fitzgerald's because it is a fulfillment," he added.
Last year, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. It's his seventh time facing cancer and, unfortunately, it has spread to his liver.
"I'm at that part of the song where the music is starting to fade out. And that doesn't mean that music that's fading out is any less important than the music that started the song; just means it's time," Abbott explained.
He explains that he has always been a planner.
"If someone could tell me, 'You have these two weeks and on Friday, you know, Friday, June, whatever is going to be your expiration date,' then I can take care of all the other things that I feel like I need to take care of," he said.
Instead, he says he's enjoying each moment as it comes.
"I would say that to anybody left here, have no fear. We're going to have our time for that energy to happen again. You just may not be happening right now face-to-face, but it'll happen. We'll all be together," he added.
Abbott does have a GoFundMe set up here.
He says whatever is left over will be used to help people enroll in camp or to thank those who made a difference in his life.
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