David Borad

Head shot audition photo, Nov 2007

David Aaron Borad
08 Jun 1967 - 11 Aug 2016

Clubs & Associations

Biography

Nicknames: Elf, PaganPup

Actor
Costume designer -- Costume coordinator
California State University, Sacramento
Class of 2011 -- Theatre
BA in Theatre Arts

Hometown Pittsburg, CA, and attend schools in the Sierra Foothills communities and Concord and Pittsburg. Graduated high school in 1984.

David thought of himself as a Pagan-Atheist ... "I live as an atheist, but I love/respect/celebrate the Wiccan holidays as a secular way to mark the passage of time."

In March 2015 David had his second kidney transplant, the first was in October 1992, California Pacific Medical Center Sutter Health Pacific Campus, San Francisco.

David Borad was married to David Canales in 1993.

David first danced with CCS in 1993, and again actively danced between June 1998 and Feb 2000, and on and off after than until he passed away.

I have been unable to locate an official obituary.

[compiled by James Ozanich, Sacramento, CA, in 2019]

In Their Own Words

Today would have been my 20th wedding anniversary. I remember that day so well. I was terrified, for reasons that escape me now, and Noelle DeAtley (who took her job of standing up for me very seriously) walked me around the block a couple times to calm me down. The house was chaotic, but we had just finished redecorating and I was immensely pleased with how it looked. We'd picked up the cake from the bakery and Robin Renee did a beautiful job of decorating the plain white cake with fresh flowers. Leona, as usual, showed up about 15 minutes late. And yet, somehow, we pulled it all off. I remember the deep and steadying love of my mothers. I remember my father, who was less than pleased that I was marrying a) a man, b) who was 21 years my senior, and c) a republican (!), making a heartfelt speech that amounted to "You're my son and I love you." I remember teasing my sister Kimberley that it was absolutely okay for her to dance with her husband after the ceremony. (I think she nearly decked me...) I remember after most of the guests had left, finally getting a chance to dance with Dave to "My Funny Valentine." (Something we would do again nearly 4 years later, a few days before he died.)

Mostly, though, I remember being grateful for the love and respect of my family and friends. At a time when legal recognition of same-sex marriage was little more than a pipe dream, they gathered around us and honored us with their presence. I remember my father and step-mother, having married off two daughters within the previous five months, treated me with the same dignity as they had my sisters. Three marriages in six months is more than any family should have to cope with...

We were together not quite 7 years. He's been gone for 16. I've lived essentially my entire adult life in the home we shared. Not a day goes by that I don't miss him, that I don't think of him. But the hurt is a gentle ache now, not the heart rending loss it was at first. I wish he could see the man I've become; I think he'd like who I am. I wish I could have watched him grow old and change and wish he could have been a father. I miss you, D, more than I will ever be able to express. ^[1]

Remembrances

David was the one that got me started in square dancing in summer 2013; he had not danced since his husband had passed and wanted to start again, and since he lived just down the street from me, it was fun to get out of the house and do something new ... I learned to dance boy first since he only danced girl. He was a fun guy and was a great pal ... he was always busy with theater or costuming and had friends in many theater departments and local theater companies ... he was not a weekly square dancer as he was always involved in one project or another!
— James Martin, member Capital City Squares, April 2019.

David and I first met at an audition over twenty years ago. He also joined SGMC [Sacramento Gay Men's Chorus] and was on the board as treasurer while I was vice-president. Thom Pryor was president at that time. He left the chorus when his partner passed on. Later on he became involved with The Alternative Arts Collective as both a costumer and actor. We did several shows together with TAAC, including the Sacramento area premier of August, Osage County in February 2016.
— Richard Spierto, theatre artist and choral singer, non-square dancer, April 2019.

I was in a play with David in 2015, where he played a swing role. I got to be whisked offstage to dance with him in the beginning, be told a poem by him in the middle, and yell at him at the end. He was a great guy and a great actor. David, it really sucks that you're gone.
— Adriana Marmo

Memorial Panel

4LL | Capital City Squares

Photos

Preschool picture, Oct 1970
Head shot audition photo, Nov 2007
Adriana Marmo (L), David Borad (C), and Matthew Udall]] (R).
After kidney transplant surgery, March 2015
David Borad (L) with Hazel Stream (R) at an August, Osage County rehearsal in early 2016. Photo credit Richard Spierto
David Borad (L) with James Martin (R) at Walk A Mile in Her Shoes fundraising event, April 2016
Before going on stage, Aug 2016