FOREVER OURS
AMBASSADOR DAVID B. HERMELIN, 1936-2000
David as a clown
with his grandson,
Mathew Orley, 1986
brother Brian, and sisters Marcie
Orley, Julie Hermelin Frank and
Francine Hermelin Levite, her cousins,
aunts and anyone who happened to
drop by and visit. The mood wasn't
somber, it was raucous. They would
talk at the same time, finish each
other's sentences and laugh over the
commentary. These memorized stories
had been told, and embellished, by
David for years. Now it was their turn
to pass his legendary exploits along.
Aspen Winter
to ,ift
12/1
2000
12
Dad loved gadgets, says his son Brian
of Bingham Farms. He owned the first
Betamax, the first Apple II computer
and the first mobile phone with a
rotary dial in the early 1960s. The
family owned motor homes and David
installed one of the first CB radios to
use on the road for long trips.
The family usually would drive to
Aspen, Colo., over the Christmas holi-
days, and David would announce,
"Breaker, Breaker, this is Magicman" on
the CB to anyone who would listen.
One year, and the exact year is any-
one's guess, the family is getting ready
to ski on Christmas morning. David
emerges from the motor-home bed-
room in a clown outfit and wants
Doreen to follow suit.
"I said, 'Absolutely not,"' she says.
"I'm not putting on a clown outfit."
"Aw, c'mon," said David. "Two
clowns are so much better than one
clown.'"
Doreen acquiesces, and soon they're
skiing down the first run of the day.
David knows that Aspen Mountain
has hired ski instructors to dress up
like Santas, and when one comes up to
David in line and says, 'I didn't know
they were hiring clowns today,' David
knows what to say.
"Yeah, they're paying us $300," he
says.
Santa goes nuts.
"Three hundred dollars?" Santa
yells, storming away. "They don't pay
me anything."
Quick Tours
"Life was a contest he was committed
to winning," Brian says. "Whether it
was driving to the market, or going to
the amusement park, he was compet-
ing with everyone."
"We ran together in Norway all the
time," says Marcie of Farmington
Hills. "We would be running, and the
last 50 yards he never said anything.
He just took off in a death race."
There is never enough time for
everything David wants to do.
Brian, in college in New Orleans,
gets a call from his dad to meet him in
Orlando. David picks him up at the
airport, and takes him to the EPCOT
Center. They run to every exhibit.
David is snapping pictures like crazy.
He says he needs to use the bathroom,
and walks away for a few minutes.
When he takes Brian to the plane,
David presents him with a full photo
album of their afternoon trip to
Orlando.
Another time, another place.
Daughter Karen meets David at an art
gallery in Santa Fe, N.M. He says,
"We're going to the art gallery. We've
Got 15 minutes."
"You don't go to an art gallery for 15
minutes," she says to him.
"Yes, you do," he says. "It's supposed
to be a great art gallery.
For her 40th birthday, Hermelin
wants to take Doreen on a 40-hour
"
LIFE To THE FULLEST on page 15