Daniel Alan Davidson was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on April 3, 1987, son of James E. and Cynthia L. Davidson. He was the youngest of four children, brother to Joseph Davidson, Sarah McMahan, and Nicky Davidson. He attended elementary school in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and graduated from Westview High School in Martin, Tennessee. An excellent athlete who excelled in baseball during his school years, Dan was an avid lover of all things related to the Kansas City Chiefs and Jayhawks.

Dan enlisted in the United States Army on March 27, 2008. Like his father and brother before him, Dan joined the 3rd Infantry Battalion and served as a combat infantryman with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Polk, Louisiana. He deployed to Baghdad, Iraq, from July 2008 through January 2009, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and to Wardak Province, Afghanistan, from November 2010 through November 2011, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Daniel was honorably discharged from the Army in February 2012, with the rank of specialist, and returned home to Tennessee.

Home and family always had his heart. He was pursuing a bachelor’s degree at the University of Tennessee. However, when his fiancée, Terrah Eads, told him of a soon to be second child, he placed his degree on hold in order to support his growing family, including son Tyler and unborn daughter Madelynn. In April 2013, Daniel accepted the position of wildland firefighter with the United States Forest Service on Engine 621 of the Sacramento Ranger District. On May 5, 2013, Daniel returned to his Lord Jesus Christ while working with two other engine crew members during a Forest Service project in Monument Springs, New Mexico.

If you knew Dan, you have to smile when you think about him. Dan didn’t walk into a room; he bounced. Full of life and larger than it, too, Dan stood 6′ 4″ when slouching! If you look up the word “escapades” in the dictionary, there was Dan’s picture. You could never be mad at him more than a minute, because in the next minute you would be laughing.

Dan had an enormous amount of love for others. He always looked out for others and would go to their aid if possible. He was a defender of the weak. He couldn’t stand to see suffering. Helping others was something he looked forward to when working with the Forest Service. To quote Dan, “Unlike the Army, no one is shooting at me.” The cause of Dan’s death was dilated cardiomyopathy, an enlarged heart. This couldn’t be more fitting to Dan, a man whose heart was so full of love. A source of constant laughter and love, Daniel Alan Davidson is desperately missed by all. There is no one else on this earth like him.