“Straight Dave” McLaughlin, of Essex, MA (formerly of Los Gatos), whose camp set the ultimate standard for bluegrass hospitality at Northern California festivals during the 1980s and 1990s, died at his home June 20, 2025, He was a successful Silicon Valley technical writer and a mainstay of the area bluegrass community. He was 85 years old.
Dave was a Muskegon, MI native who came to what eventually became Silicon Valley to ultimately pursue a career in technical writing. He was an early member of the then-Santa Cruz Bluegrass Society and a regular supporter of the bluegrass music that he loved. His home in Los Gatos was well-known to both nationally-touring and local bluegrass musicians. He hosted picking parties that were a respite for road performers and big events for his friends in area bands.
Dave’s main claim to fame was his hosting of many of those same musicians at his camp at bluegrass festivals throughout the summer season. Many famous bands hung out, ate and drank, and played music at Dave’s. He made everyone feel welcome from Sidesaddle to the Del McCoury Band to Hot Rize. And he had the best food and drink around.
Although he settled on bluegrass as his favorite entertainment, he enjoyed rock ‘n’ roll, classical, and folk music. The album that brought him to bluegrass was an Earl Scruggs performance the 1961 album “Foggy Mountain Banjo.”
Dave was the agent for The Mountain Creatures, a talented area band made up of old friends who loved to play for fun. Dave named the band, which included Eddie Ducommun and Jerry Ashford. Dave always said that his job as agent was to make sure the band got to play whenever and wherever they wanted and to make sure they didn’t get paid, or at least not paid very much. For Dave and for the band, bluegrass music was made for fun, not profit. Dave wore his beloved Mountain Creatures t-shirt until his death decades later.
After graduation from Michigan College of Mining & Technology (Physics 1961), Dave began his career in Connecticut at the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engine Company. In 1962 he joined Sunnyvale’s Lockheed Aircraft Company. As the South Bay Area moved towards high tech, he moved from aircraft engineering into electronics engineering. His career eventually focused on his considerable skills as a top hardware & software technical writer, which he used to document new processes and projects for Silicon Valley companies.
His wide-ranging interests included autos, sports, public policy and politics. In his youth, he was an athlete, and in his prime, a raconteur, a storyteller, a friend, and was famed as a curmudgeon who pined for social and economic justice in America. Beneath it all, he was a nice guy and a friend to many.
Dave met his wife Terri at a SCBS weekend campout at Mount Madonna County Park in southern Santa Clara County. He was stricken when he first saw her — and asked his male friends to hold back and let him be the first to talk to her. That conversation led to a long and happy marriage.
Before his death, in response to receiving a compliment from a friend, Dave explained his approach to life:
“As for being generous and good-natured, it seems to be the right thing to do as well as being required by those few codes of conduct that merit any significant amount of attention. Being generous, that is, being good-natured is another matter altogether. Of all the philosophical maxims, rules, regulations, and creeds flooding the world with bullshit, only a few stand out as making any sense whatsoever. First among them, and the simplest, is the Golden Rule. Nearly anybody with a double-digit IQ can understand it and if 2% of our idiot population would attempt to live by it, the millennium would become a possibility. I’m not saying that I live by it, or even come close for that matter, but it is a lofty ideal to have hanging out there. I try to give it a half-assed attempt some of the time. It’s pretty much the limit of what one individual can do without getting on a giant trip. Second is a Catholic prayer that I came across as a young man and found to be useful as well as beautiful. It is the Prayer of St. Francis, probably the only thing in all of Christianity worthy of retention. Finally, there is the Precepts of the Gurus, a 50-page or so collection of maxims from the Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines book. Very heady stuff. If you haven’t seen it, I have copies.”
Despite this reference to religious literature, Dave was not very comfortable in churches. At the time, the SCBS (later the Northern California Bluegrass Society) and its sister organization, Redwood Bluegrass Associates, often held bluegrass concerts in churches, which were low cost and frequently available on Saturday evenings. Dave was an advocate for moving these concerts to secular venues. However, he still came to hear his favorite music and enjoy his favorite bands wherever the shows were presented.
David James McLaughlin is survived by his ex-wife Terri McLaughlin of Essex, MA and several very good friends from all parts of the country, his sister, Cathie Ferro and her husband Anthony (Tony), of Johnson City, TN, as well as many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his brothers, John Scott McLaughlin, who is survived by his wife, Ann, of North Muskegon, MI; and Joseph Eugene McLaughlin, who is survived by his wife, Debbie, of Palm Springs, CA.
Two excellent obituaries for Dave are available online and are recommended:
