In December 2020 Haines residents Jenae Larson and David Simmons lost their lives in a devastating landslide. Now, over two years later, the father of David Simmons has finished his son’s life’s work – creating a book from his son’s manuscript, detailing his travels and belief in humanity.
Randy Simmons has spent the past two years poring over his son David’s 95,000 word manuscript and hard drives that contain tens of thousands of pictures and videos detailing the 30-year-olds travels across the world. Simmons says the story began with an impressive youth.
Simmons: “David was a spectacular student in high school. He was a straight-A student, he gave the graduation speech for his high school graduation, he was an athlete on both baseball and basketball teams that won championship league championships during his time playing. He was a very well-educated man, he went to a one-year college in California, and then he transferred to an international university in Germany, later returned to Chico his hometown, and got a bachelor’s degree and graduated magna cum laude, which is like the top 2% of the class, went on to do graduate work in Germany and Russia. He got his master’s degree in International Studies.” “He was a Fulbright scholar in Belarus. Basically, he represented the United States Embassy there, and gave lectures to a university in the Russian language. He was fluent in German, French and Russian languages. So he was able to use that to his advantage as he continued to travel throughout the world.”
Simmons says that his son’s great passion was travel. Throughout the 2010s he circled the globe three times, visiting 77 countries and immersing himself in the local cultures on an entirely self-funded adventure. That adventure would fill his manuscript with amazing stories.
Simmons: “There’s so much danger and intrigue and the book itself is just a real pleasure to read. And, you know, he was able to reconfirm his feelings about mankind numerous, numerous times as he got such wonderful support and his goal was to play it to pay it forward and encourage people to travel and to visit other countries and to have an open mind and the understanding that basically mankind is a very positive experience for him.”
After years spent traveling the world, David Simmons decided to settle down in Haines. His father explains why David chose a small rural town in Southeast Alaska as his home.
Simmons: “He was he was tired of traveling. He returned to his hometown Chico and realized that he’d never been to Alaska. And he had a cousin up there. Cambria Goodwin, who was the owner of the Pilot Light, and he said, Hey, I’ve never been to change mine if I come up and visit us Save for a weekend. And she goes, Oh my gosh, the weekend he’d chosen was the weekend of the Southeast State Fair. So he came up to visit Cambria and just had a wonderful time.” “So that was his first, you know, exposure to Alaska. And he really fell in love with the town and the environment and everything about it.” “He was so impressed with the people of the town. So they’re all here for the same reason they beat they’re here because they want to be he realized that something about as in he said something like something about the area, it just draws you into your vortex and it just won’t let you go. He was he was. He’s always been an outdoor camping kind of guy. He loved the outdoors, the spirit of the land. He loved the community.”
After losing David in the landslide in December 2020, Simmons feared that his son’s manuscript was gone forever and would never be completed. But a twist of fate brought the manuscript into his hands.
Simmons: “So when he passed the landslide took David and everything he owned, and it was lost at sea. And so we just assumed that his manuscript on his computer was lost at sea and that was one of the biggest disappointments when I realized that he was never gonna be able to finish this book. But as luck would have it, he had just purchased a brand new Mac Pro to do some final editing on his video work. And he had it about, you know, less than a week and he slipped on the stairs and dropped it and cracked the screen. So he sent it in for repairs. This was like, you know, a week or two before he passed. And when the tragedy occurred, my wife Michelle and I came up to Haines and we were with Libby Jacobson and her family. And about three days in the book showed up in the mail the, the repaired MacBook showed up in the mail. And we thought, oh my gosh, I wonder if his book is on this on this new computer of his.” “And lo and behold, the computer opened and his manuscript was on the computer. So we had his rough draft.”
With the help of friend Jodie Dillman and local author Joe Aultman-Moore, Simmons edited the rough draft into a book that he considers to be the most important thing he’s ever accomplished. The book, titled 50 countries, 50 stories, was released on March 7th. Ultimately, Simmons wants readers to know how his son saw the world.
Simmons: “David had achieved such a level of understanding for the people he stayed with. And, you know, his whole premise was that we as humans are of one of a similar kind, no matter what the religion, country, or culture we were raised in. He was the most compassionate, accepting, and respectful person I’ve ever known. He had respect and compassion for everybody in his life. And he was really fortunate to be able to receive such generosity and kindness as he traveled around the world, but these, you know, multiple types of environments and people and, and, and cultures, he was able to, to get a positive experience and that came directly from his, his just optimistic attitude and love for people and acceptance.” “he was my best friend and he was a tremendous, tremendous individual. I take a lot of pride in him. I take, you know, some responsibility for him turning out the way that he did. But I can tell you one thing. He’s a better man than I will ever be. Just by who he was.”
As of this posting, 50 countries, 50 stories by David Simmons can be found on sale on Amazon.
The Full Interview with Randy Simmons is located below.
