MARROWSTONE ISLAND — A Nordland man who was killed in a collision Tuesday was a “gentle giant,” a retired Navy SEAL and explosives expert who yet always put people at ease.
David M. Bodkin, 67, died Tuesday afternoon when the motor home he was driving swerved across the double yellow line and collided with a car at about 2:30 p.m., the State Patrol said.
Bodkin “loved shooting the breeze with his friends” and recalling old times, said his stepdaughter, Alene Moroni of Seattle, on Wednesday.
He was proud of his service in the armed forces, and loved talking to both older veterans and those who had served more recently.
He “loved sailing, fishing, and hunting,” Moroni said.
After his retirement from the Navy in 1982, he and his wife, Sharon, spent eight years sailing around the world in their sailboat, The Kaloki, Moroni said.
Kaloki, which means “swan,” was also the nickname of the 6-foot-4-inch-tall man, she added.
“People really connected with him,” Moroni said.
She said that those connections extended into unexpected places, such as when she phoned a doctor’s office to cancel an appointment on Wednesday and “the receptionist started crying when she heard the news.”
Bodkin, a Seattle native, joined the Navy upon his graduation from high school in West Seattle in 1961. He was a Navy SEAL until he retired in 1982, Moroni said.
He served in Vietnam before moving to Jefferson County in 1979 to work at the Indian Island Naval Magazine, at which time he moved into his current home in Nordland on Marrowstone Island, she said.
After his retirement from the Navy, he continued doing contract work and had recently worked in Iraq, Moroni said.
He was an expert in clearing explosives, which was the basis of much of his contract work, she said.
Bodkin also is survived by his wife of 33 years, Sharon Bodkin of Nordland, and a sister, Laura McDonald of Broken Arrow, Okla.
Remembrances may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, www.woundedwarriorproject.org.
