David Bernard Bottema was born January 26, 1950 in Mountain Lake, Minnesota to Ben and Terena (Roll) Bottema. He received his early schooling in the Bingham Lake and Mountain Lake schools and graduated with the Windom Class of 1968. After attending a year of vocational school in Alexandria, MN, he returned to the Bingham Lake area to farm. After farming for many years, he worked for various electrical firms in the area including Johnson Electric and Hiebert Electric in Windom as well as an Owatonna firm. In the recent years, David worked as a delivery person for Citizen Publishing of Windom and the Mankato Free Press. With farming still in his blood, he took great pride in his garden tractors and the business he created by tilling gardens and mowing lawns, making many friends in the process. He also enjoyed attending the Butterfield Threshing Bee and proudly drove his father's restored John Deere 520 in the parade of tractors. David's health took a turn for the worse in late 2007 when he started having back problems. The doctors discovered cancer in the vertebrae and lungs. David followed their advice, but was unable to overcome the powerful disease. He passed away on March 15, 2008 in Rochester, MN after putting up a valiant fight. His survivors include his mother, Terena Bottema; sister and brother-in-law, Kathy and Nanno Schoneman; niece and nephew, Laura and William Schoneman, all of Bingham Lake, MN; two uncles, John Roll Sr. of Windom and Ted Bottema of Northfield; two aunts, Mildred and Elma Roll of Windom; and many cousins. David was preceded in death by his father, Ben; and his grandparents.