Garver Summit 2019 Recap Video

Laura Nick and I were in Tulsa rehearsing for Garver Summit 2014 when we got the call that the tumor on our father’s brain was malignant. We looked at each other and without saying a word, both knew we needed to get back to work, trying to pull off the biggest company event of our careers up to that point.

We’ve never talked about it, but I think that moment bonded us. We pushed through our emotions to deal with work the way our father probably wanted us to. Working so closely with my sister on this project every year always kind of feels like an homage to David Choate because of that moment, but also because if he could see us, he would be proud of what we are accomplishing professionally together.

After he died, Bruce Oakley, the company he worked for and loved, paid him an honor I don’t think could be topped by naming their newest boat after him—the first time any of their fleet had been named after a non-family member. I casually tracked that boat for over a year, setting up notifications for every time it entered or exited a port as it moved up and down the Mississippi and Ohio, but I’d never been able to see it for myself. At some point, for whatever reason, the notifications stopped and I gave up hoping I'd ever be in the same place as the boat named after the only dad I'll ever have.

But then last Thursday night while I stood backstage at Garver Summit 2019 at the Riverfront Amphitheater in Little Rock, my phone blew up with texts from my friends in the audience. Behind me, behind the stage, the David Choate tugged upriver toward the sunset in front of my entire company. I’m thankful the talented Bryan Stafford was able to capture a little footage of it for the below Summit Recap video before it disappears again for who knows how long.

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