December 1, 1934 – January 11, 2024
David Greene was born in Cambridge, MA and grew up in Corning, NY, the son of Dr. Charles H and S Winifred M Greene. As an active, engaged boy, he had a paper route, stamp and comic book collections, gardened with his father and became an Eagle scout. He developed a lifelong love of building things, learned to love playing the violin, and sailed K class boats on Keuka Lake with his older brother.
He went to Culver Military Academy in Indiana for high school, where he continued playing his violin and developed a life-long interest in soccer. Dr. Greene moved the family to Alfred, NY where he headed the Glass Technology Department.
David attended Haverford College, class of ‘56, and was a prominent member of the epee fencing team. He met Anne during their college years, and they married on December 31, 1956 while both were students. He finished his BA in Physics at Alfred University a year later. Then he followed Anne to Baltimore, where she completed her college degree at Goucher. He began his graduate studies in Physics at Johns Hopkins and taught to support his growing family.
Dave and Anne became members of Homewood Quaker Meeting in Baltimore in 1960 and traveled to FGC and Yearly Meeting programs for years. Dave was a devout pacifist for the rest of his life. He moved with Anne and the family to Madison, Wisconsin and earned a PhD in Electrical Engineering in 1971 from The University of Wisconsin. He organized pick up soccer games there, as he had at Hopkins, and founded an international community of accomplished players.
Then Dave taught Physics at Towson University for 30 years, and wrote his own textbooks out of concern for his students’ financial burdens. He created and taught the Energy and Pollution course, organized “Sun Day” in 1979; and was a MD state fencing champion. Dave wrote four books; fed the hungry in Baltimore; ran for Baltimore City Council on the Green Party ticket; and served on the Baltimore Friends Indian Affairs Committee.
He and his sister Megan founded the Deer Creek Fiddlers’ Convention in 1971. It is a weekend-long camping festival that continues today as a Sunday event at the Carroll County Farm Museum.
For three years, he directed the Catoctin Quaker Camp in July in the late ‘70s. The constant rain led him to invent Waterfront Mud Slide Day. He initiated moonlit walks of the entire camp community and a dinner theater. He also invented the Marble Tag game when he was 9 years old and later manufactured it.
In his Baltimore neighborhood, because of him there were years of Haunted Houses at Halloween. Long lines stretched around the block, and theatrical friends and family filled 3 stories of a former funeral home with fear. The neighborhood remembered this for decades.
Dave was an active participant in life rather than an observer. He involved his family and extended family in his varied activities – playing soccer, fencing, running the conventions, wind-surfing, gardening, dancing, campaigning, chess, bridge, croquet, and his own version of Monopoly called Half-Price. He taught hundreds of couples to ballroom dance in free dance classes from 1987 to 2020 and was all around a generous friend to all he met.
He and Anne loved singing in the Friends House chorus, which they joined in 1997, driving from Baltimore each week. Once they moved to Friends House, Anne and he hosted weekly potluck dinners for 20 or more in their living room.
Dave is survived by Anne, his wife of 67 years, and their four children, Grace Anne Crowder (Tomlin Crowder, deceased), Michael Greene (Diana Ramsey), Charles Greene (Kelly Greene), and Megan Greene, 4 grandchildren, Cat Crowder (Will Calvert), Ben Greene (Raven Holm), Arthur Greene, and Liam Greene, 5 great-grandchildren, his sister, Megan Shook (Walter Shook), and his sister-in-law, Anleas Greene.
In David’s memory, wear a red shirt, do some unexpected kindness, give money to a stranger, teach somebody something, tell your loved ones that you love them, and live life large.
The memorial meeting to celebrate Dave’s life will be held at Friends House in Sandy Spring at 1 pm on April 6. Everyone is welcome to wear a red shirt if so inclined.
