David Hughes (1954-2020): Kept Radio Theater Alive
by former KUNM Production Director Paul Ingles
KUNM volunteer David Hughes passed away suddenly in October of 2020. Some
of you, particularly in the KUNM community, will know David. Others in New
Mexico will know him as the friendly voice who did the local hosting
around the KUNM Sunday morning shows WEEKEND EDITION and the SUNDAY
SPECIAL, right before SINGING WIRE for years. He was also a key figure in
keeping RADIO THEATER alive on KUNM for many years now.
I think David started volunteering at KUNM not long after I started
working there in 1994. I can’t really remember a time when he wasn’t
around there. He was one of the most affable human beings I’d ever met. In
the almost 19 years since I left KUNM, we’d kept in touch. Grabbed a few
lunches. Caught a movie or two. We’d run into each other at our post
office often. When my washer broke down for a few weeks, I ran into him at
the laundromat. We’d trade an email now and again. He liked to make funny
memes and share them with me. I’m going to have to look back at my email
inbox archive and remember some of them.
He ended each email with this: “Submitting the shadows of things to the
desires of the mind, because Reality is not always what you think it is.”
When PEACE TALKS RADIO threw our first benefit concert to raise money for
our non-profit at the Kimo Theater in 2004, David volunteered to shoot the
video for me, since we had no dough. We had a good time and David made
sure we had a good video record of it.
Every time I’d see him, it was a totally pleasant encounter. He had a
whimsical smile he shared easily, and thought about things in kind of a
pleasantly bent way. It was just always a deep pleasure to talk with him
because he never seemed to be in much of a hurry and was curious about how
I was doing, as well as telling me about his latest circumstance. He lived
a modest life. Mostly alone as far as I could tell. He LOVED movies. I’m
sure he left a HUGE collection of DVDs. It’s what he spent his money on
mostly I think.
He wrote to me once. “I do not consider myself a ‘mainstream’ sort of
person and have not had a mainstream sort of life, though I do hold
certain views in common with the ‘mainstream.’ “
He was doing loading dock work for a few years that had me worried about
whether he could handle it still. We were about the same age. More
recently he was working at a local plastics company. He wrote me about it
once: “I feed machines pellets of high density polyethylene which are used
to make HDPE (high density polyethylene pipes).” It was considered an
“essential business” so he’d been working there during the pandemic. I’m
told he passed away suddenly at work of an apparent heart attack.
We had traded some emails about a Radio Theater item just a few days
before he passed. And the last time I ran into him at the post office,
he’d told me he was angling toward retiring in Silver City. He said he
liked it down there. Slower pace. His family had roots there. His parents
met each other in Silver City. His father had died in 2008. His mom in
2012.
I suppose I could pretend that his retirement has already begun and I
wouldn’t be seeing him around once that happened and he’d moved away.
Still, in fact, he’s even further away and more out of touch.
Thanks David Hughes for your reliable kindness to me. I wish we’d taken a
picture together at least. It would have been easy enough to do. Much love
to you on the next part of your journey. I’m going to think of it as being
better than you’d ever imagined it might be. Better even than the quiet
life of Silver City.
David Hughes’ obituary from the Albuquerque Journal, Feb 21, 2021
