Celebrate David Mochen's 80th with a Special Trip

Hey guys Gramps is turning 80 this year and I couldn’t stop thinking about how deserving they both are of a vacation together. I know his birthday is around the corner, and not everyone is able to make it to his party. So I thought that it would be so special to be able to give him a gift from all of us. So if you are able, I thought we could all pitch in and try and send them on a vacation of their choosing or at least give them a good start. I wish I could have sent this out sooner; I’m sorry, time just got away from me this year. But I just wanted to shine the spotlight on the Big Mochy for a bit.

The other day I stopped by his house, I was going through his phone to try and find some pictures of him for his party next weekend, and not to my surprise, all I ended up finding was a ton of pictures of all of you guys. All mostly blurry and off-center, but a completely full photo storage of the things that matter most in the world to him, and that is all you guys. After I finished with his phone, I went upstairs into a room that myself and many others called home at one point lol. I stopped for a second and thought about all the different setups I had seen that room go through. So many memories in every corner of it. That room has always really belonged to Grampa, but it made me happy to see he has finally made it his very own little sanctuary. Now every little inch of that room is covered. A picture of him with Mom and Aunt Leanna when they were little girls on his desk. Uncle Daniel’s paintings and Uncle Rob’s tour dates hung on the wall. A picture framed of him holding his first grandchild with everyone surrounding him. He looked so proud in it, holding Andre, his very first grandson. On his shelf, he had cheerleading and graduation pictures of Julia. Cut-out newspaper articles of Patrick, Christian, Tory, and Robby playing soccer. A picture of Tory winning her college conference tournament. Pictures of Christian playing the guitar and getting married, and pictures of you and Pat graduating college. Pictures of Gavin and Olivia when he took them water rafting. Pictures of the Davilas in New Mexico under that big pecan tree. Piles of Christmas cards, old guitars, and baseball gloves. Our first and second place medals, honor roll ribbons, and graduation tassels, literally so many things. I used to think Grandpa was just a hoarder, but when I took a second out of my own life to come and spend the day with him, I realized he had filled that room with a bunch of little pieces of all of us. Just before I was about to leave, I noticed a box in the corner right beside his bookshelf full of mathematics and science books. I opened it and realized it was a box completely full of medals, pictures, and awards of recognition. I almost skimmed right through it, thinking it was just more of our stuff, but then I noticed they were all addressed to Grandpa.

New Mexico State University Associate of Science in Engineering Technology David Daniel Mochen, 1967. A diploma from New Mexico State University Bachelor of Science in Education David Mochen, 1969. Awarded Certificate of Completion from the Texas Education Agency Credential Department of Occupational Education and Technology in 1972.

Master of Science degree from West Texas University presented to David Daniel Mochen on August 19th, 1975. Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Technological Achievement presented by Contel Corporation for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Systems awarded to David D. Mochen, 1989. The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center Achievement awarded to David Mochen, 1993.

McDonnell Douglas Certificate of Appreciation presented to David Mochen in recognition of the outstanding efforts contributing to the successful SVF ORD-1 Critical Design Review, 1995. The San Antonio College Certified Department Webmaster presented to David D. Mochen, 2007. And so many more. I don’t know how many of y’all actually knew all this about Gramps, but I sure didn’t! My grandpa was literally a part of some of the teams that worked together to put some of the first satellites into space for NASA. He worked with the teams at the Penascal Wind Farm and did so much more that have probably led to more technological advances than we will probably ever know. I know he would tell me to rein it in if he knew I was talking about him like this to everybody, but I can’t help it. I’m just so proud to be his granddaughter, and I just thought it would make you guys so proud to know some of that stuff too. Anyways, I ended up spending the entire afternoon over there asking him all about the awards and things I found in that little box full of dust in the corner. I loved seeing Grandpa light up when he would tell me about all the successes and failures he had to experience to attain them. He even had to dumb some stuff down for me to even understand what he was talking about, if I’m being honest lol, but after he was done telling me all about his adventures, I looked up and said, “Wow, Grandpa, I had no idea you had all these and did all that stuff!” and you know what he told me. He said, “Yes, Mija, my whole life has been a classroom, and I have learned a lot… I never got around to making a whole lot of money, but I am a very rich man because God blessed me with all of you…”

And idk, but that statement just meant so much to me because Grandpa truly does live his life according to that statement. There is not a single thing in the world that Grandpa values more than Grandma and the people he loves. I know that his love and dedication have blessed all our lives in so many ways. Whether it’s showing up to all our games, getting so invested and yelling at all the referees on their terrible calls, or showing up front row to all our concerts, graduations, music and art shows, and award ceremonies and birthdays, or just as simple as a random phone call to say hello. I remember someone told me one time that Grandpa brings Grandma popcorn in bed every single night. I just laugh thinking about that because I know that Grandma will always be taken care of as long as Gramps is around. Because that’s just the kind of man he is. The kind that just shows up. The kind that seeks no praise. The kind that puts everyone else before himself. My Grandpa is a blessing to all that know him. To know him is to love him. So let’s celebrate his 80th year of life big guys! I hope that we are able to come up with something special for him. Look forward to seeing whoever is able to make it out. Thanks again, guys.

- Love, Alex and the Mochy Family