Profile
by Stephen Heckman
"It's hard to say it was love at first sight, but it really clicked," he said.
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President's assistant enters transitional period
Dave Funk takes everything one step at a time with a new baby, house, and job.
Mr. Funk crouches next to the American Holly tree he planted as a symbol of his daughter's birth. His wife Kristy holds their new baby, Lilly.
With a one-and-a-half-year- old house and a two- month-old baby, Dave Funk, President Daniel Lockwood's assistant, is in a stage of transition. "I'm enjoying learning about being a father," he said. When Mr. Funk was born, his father planted a tree symbolic of his birth. Today, Mr. Funk is passing on the tradition. When his daughter Lilly was born two months ago, he planted a tree in his front yard. Life is just starting for Lilly and the tree, and Mr. Funk looks forward to watching them grow and develop together.
So far, Mr. Funk has been able to adapt his schedule to his new baby without being overwhelmed. "It's changed [my schedule] a little bit. Fortunately, you have nine months to anticipate what's going to happen," he said. Mr. Funk gets into the office earlier now so he can leave closer to 5 p.m. "If I could pick Lilly up from daycare between 5 and 5:30, that would be ideal," he said. Last year, he left the office at 6 p.m.
The baby has also been very cooperative. Instead of waking up every two hours, Lilly sleeps, Mr. Funk said. "She did wake up in the middle of the night, but it wasn't for a prolonged time." As a result, Mr. Funk said, "We got a lot of sleep. I know that makes some people jealous." Mr. Funk has a positive attitude toward changing diapers. "It's not been bad at all," he said, although he admits his wife, who is on maternity leave, changes diapers more than he does.
Mr. Funk met his wife Kristy at Washington State University during a social mixer. They were both in student government and were helping out during an orientation week for transfer students and freshmen. According to Mr. Funk, both he and his wife were determined to go out together within a semester. "It's hard to say it was love at first sight, but it really clicked," he said.
Both Mr. Funk and his wife were raised in Christian homes. Mr. Funk says he has difficulty saying when he became a Christian. "It's always a tough question for those raised in a Christian home," he said. "There's probably several points along the way that were decisive." Though he vaguely remembers asking Jesus into his heart at an early age, he was continually reaffirmed and strengthened in his walk with the Lord throughout high school and college.
Mr. Funk attended a high school that had fewer than 200 kids and graduated with only 29 students. He was raised in a small town called White Swan, in the Yakima Valley, Wash., and lived on a farm. As Mr. Funk looked back at his move to Portland, he said he has experienced some definite changes in his transition from the spacious country to the city. "It strikes me how quiet and how slow things are there," Mr. Funk said, referring to his parents' farm. "I didn't really notice that at the time I was growing up; I didn't have much to compare with."
One stage marking Mr. Funk's transition is the home he recently purchased. He bought the house a year and a half ago. He enjoys home repair and keeping up the lawn and would like to try landscaping, although he doesn't quite have the farmer's touch his father had. "Apparently I didn't get my father's green thumb all that well," he said. The interior of his home is well-kept. A baby's play pen lies in front of a couch with toys scattered around it. A unique lamp made from a gumball machine stands out when you walk into the living room. Mr. Funk and his father-in-law constructed the lamp from a gumball machine they bought from a garage sale.
Mr. Funk earned a degree in business administration with a management emphasis from Washington State University in 1987. After working various jobs, he heard about Mulnomah's seminary program that allows students to enter the program without having previously attended a Bible college. Mr. Funk graduated from Multnomah in 1995 with a master of arts in biblical studies and became a receptionist in the seminary office. At the same time, he taught "Methods of Biblical Research" as an adjunct for the seminary.
When Dr. Lockwood became president in 1997, Mr. Funk had already been Dr. Lockwood's teaching assistant for a couple of years. Dr. Lockwood asked Mr. Funk to become his administrative assistant. "I was in the right place at the right time, I think, because our librarian, Mr. Jim Scott, was also retiring and I was handy," Mr. Funk said. President Lockwood said he hired Mr. Funk because he "needed someone who could do a variety of administrative jobs but also could work well in various departments." President Lockwood said he had the qualities he wanted. "He has excellent computer skills and excellent people skills," he said. President Lockwood also said that one of Mr. Funk's responsibilities is to be part of the board of trustees, "which requires a high level of confidentiality, trust and confidence." In addition to fulfilling all the requirements of being a president's assistant, Mr. Funk knows how to keep his responsibilities in perspective, spending quality time with people. "I don't know anyone who doesn't like Dave," President Daniel Lockwood said.
Even though Mr. Funk's life is tied up with his new baby, house and position as president's assistant, he finds time to spend with his wife. "We don't do things quite like we used to," he said. "For instance, before, we would have gone out to a movie; now we rent a video. Maybe before we'd go out to restaurants, but now we get a take-out." Mr. Funk has taken the transition positively. "It's not been a negative change; it's not been a real traumatic change," he said. "It's been real smooth, and God is in the design process and he uses you. Being the parent of an infant is in some ways easier than being parent of a toddler; he only gives you so much."
Stephen Heckman plays guitar in a band called "Frenchie and the Funk."
A new light is shed on an old gumball machine when Mr. Funk transforms one into a lamp.
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