It has been one year since David Belter was violently torn from our lives. I am David’s only sibling. We were adopted by our absolutely amazing parents John & Jeanette Belter. I cannot put into words the anguish our family and friends have suffered losing David. However, I do think that sharing about my brother can help us heal and find more peace and some joy.
David was a long-time resident of Boerne. We moved here in 1983 – just in time for the 84-85 blizzard with almost 2 ft of snow to play in! We were blessed with a couple of trash can lids and numerous hills to slide down on! David and I loved Boerne, and we had tons of memories in those early years like of going to Boerne Lake, our cozy happy hometown with only yellow blinking lights on Main Street, and horse racing at the Kendall County Fair. Our family attended St. Peter’s Catholic Church, and David attended many events, retreats, and gained many of his first and longest-time friends there. Like many other kids back then - to live in the country wasn’t all fun and games, and our dad made us do hard work all year long for a meager allowance of $7.00 a week!
My brother was a big fan of sci-fi. He loved Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dungeons & Dragons role playing games. Throughout his life he would do artwork and play musical instruments and write stories. How we all envied his imagination! One of the musical instruments he played was the trombone, which he proudly played all four years in the Boerne High School Marching Band. David graduated from BHS in 1991 – to the graduation song “The Dance” by Garth Brooks. Yes Garth, life is beautiful and all too short. David attended Texas A&M and got the bonfire building bug, and we were all quite concerned about his startling hobby of hard toilsome work. After this period in his life, he moved back to Boerne to work for several years with the horses at the amazing Double Diamond Ranch. Then he moved out to Blanco, TX with some good friends working in construction for a while before taking a job at Blanco’s main favorite town gas station. He worked there for many years, and everyone in Blanco County (as well as many who were just passing through) met my brother. He was given the nickname “Big Dave.” As our parents got a little older my brother (who never got married or had kids) wanted to move back to Boerne to be closer to them – to help and see them more often. I was very proud to have enough space at my place for my brother to move in with me for a few years, and he began a night stocking job at the HEB in Dripping Springs. Eventually my brother was able to get his own place even closer to our parents. My brother realized that he – more than I – would be better situated to help our parents as they aged, and he very much looked forward to being there for them as they had for us our whole life.
