David Francis Hebert was born to Donald George Hebert and Rita Beatrice Hebert in Hartford, Connecticut on September 6, 1957 and passed away in his home in West Lake Hills, Texas on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2023, with his loving wife Lisa Hebert beside him. Though married not quite 10 years, he and Lisa met when they were 17 years old attending high school in San Ramon, California and she was dating Dave’s best friend. Dave’s shoulders were so broad that he would split the back of his shirts, so when he became a checker at Lucky’s, a California grocery store, and needed white dress shirts, Lisa created a pattern and sewed custom-fitted shirts for him. He was so proud of her that he bragged about that for decades. Finding themselves single again later in life, he considered himself lucky indeed to woo Lisa to Texas.
He began his college career at the University of California at Berkeley, earning a bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering. He started graduate school at Northwestern but, declining to work on weapons development, he returned to California for his master’s degree in Engineering at San Jose State University. He was employed first by many Silicon Valley companies, then went to UC Berkeley supervising graduate students for 10 years, including a student whose project developed into the camera phone. When Austin called, he moved there in 1994 and worked for many tech companies, ending his career as senior engineer at NXP.
Dave had a multitude of interests, ranging from sailing a 38’ sailboat in San Francisco Bay, taking flying lessons, and hiking from the beach to the redwoods. He loved his yard, his Yamaha Haysbusa motorcycle, and his Mazda RX-8 sports car. Multi-talented, he remodeled his house and updated the kitchen, entirely on his own.
In addition to his wife Lisa, he is also survived by his mother Rita Hebert; sister Linda Jarrell, who lives in Virginia, and his sister Janet Hebert and brother Richard Hebert, both of whom live in California, as well as many nieces and nephews. He was blessed with sons David Donald Hebert, who lives in Pennsylvania, and Matthew Richard Hebert, who lives in Colorado, as well as his wife’s son, Justin Kappeler, who lives in California.
Services will be held on Saturday, January 6, 2024 at 11:30 am at Mt. Olivet, Renton, Washington.
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