Having joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1964, he decided that he wanted to immerse himself in the influence of other Church members for his college experience, so he went to Brigham Young University. While he loved his family dearly, he didn't feel that his family upbringing was strong enough, as far as teaching him how to be good. He fell in love with the good, clean atmosphere at BYU. He came back to Minneapolis in the summer of 1967, but then decided to stay in Provo during the summers and work there.

He continued his political activities at BYU. In 1967, at the end of his freshman year, he was elected to serve as the President of the BYU chapter of Young Americans for Freedom. Then, at the beginning of his sophomore year, he was also appointed the Utah State Chairman of that same organization. He wanted to get involved in the 1968 presidential election, and in 1968, he was asked to be Utah State Chairman of Youth for Nixon. He was majoring in political science and minoring in speech, and was planning to attend law school and maybe pursue a career in politics.

In 1969, he left his studies and political activities to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called to serve in Spain, and became one of the first group of ten missionaries called to that country. When he arrived, the only LDS organization in Spain was a branch in Madrid. Several months after arriving, he was asked to be in a group of eight missionaries to open the city of Barcelona. He was asked to serve as the Barcelona Branch clerk, and he also kept a detailed diary of the missionary work and his personal labors. As a result, he was asked to write the history of the beginnings of the LDS Church in Spain. You may find his entries at the Barcelona Mission web site and at the Madrid Mission web site.

Returning from his mission, he lost some of his desire for political activities, and concentrated on his studies and church service. He changed his studies to a chemistry major with a math minor, and ended up deciding to go into dentistry. A highlight of this time period for him was being asked to help produce a new edition of the Bible for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Working with Dr. Ellis T. Rasmussen of the College of Religious Instruction at Brigham Young University, a team of professors, seminary teachers, and returned missionaries who were well-versed in the scriptures created a new edition of the Bible that was published in 1979. This was the first edition of the Bible that was produced exclusively for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, containing cross-references to the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price. In addition, it had a new and unique feature. Rather than have a concordance as an appendix where scriptures were listed by key words, the concordance idea was expanded to include scriptures that may address the listed word by concept, but may not include that word. Dave was assigned to help develop certain topics. In doing this, he put to practical use a scripture file that he had been developing since a year before his mission, where he had created his own personal index of the scriptures by topic. The second year of the project, he was asked to help evaluate the submissions of others, and was given a special assignment of developing cross-references between the Bible and Book of Mormon. It was a wonderful assignment for him. Although he was very busy in school and earning money to put himself through school, the inspiration that came in creating these Bible study aids was a very rich and rewarding experience for him.

He tells of one experience that was a testimony of the Lord's help in this project. Sitting at his usual desk in Dr. Rasmussen's office, he was poring over the Book of Mormon, writing cross-references to the Bible. Ideas would just flow—no sooner would he write down one cross-reference than another would pop into his head. Just then, a co-ed with an immodestly tight sweater walked down the hall, just outside the open door. Dave looked out the door and was kind of distracted by her. Then she disappeared and he went back to writing cross-references. However, no ideas would come. The fountain, as it were, shut down. He realized that he had let his thoughts wander inappropriately, and stopped his work, said a prayer in which he asked for forgiveness and help in resisting temptation, and then was finally able to get back to work. The cross-reference ideas began to flow once again.

Dave got married in August 1975, just before leaving Utah for the University of Minnesota Dental School. His wife worked for the first year of dental school, but after their first child was born, he encouraged her to stay home and he supported the family with loans and part-time and summer work. He was fortunate to get a summer job as a radiology instructor at the dental school which paid several times as much as any job he'd had thus far.

After graduating from dental school, they moved to Iowa to set up a dental practice. Their research and visits seemed to show it was a nice place to raise a family, with excellent schools and stable communities.

In Iowa, David continued to be very active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and was advanced to a seventy and then a high priest. He had varied leadership, teaching, and clerical responsibilities. Among those callings, the one that stands out in his mind was serving from 1992 to 1996 as director of Public Affairs for the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Stake. This was when the department of Public Affairs was first organized, and Dave got to put together a stake organization and plan, which propelled the LDS Church into community and interfaith activity all across the stake, receiving excellent media coverage. Their successes included organizing an interfaith committee to get the Faith and Values Channel launched by the local cable system, initiating a National Family Week celebration involving prominent community leaders, and reviving a city-wide annual Easter Egg hunt in Noelridge Park.

He also became involved professionally. In 1990, he became the first dentist in Iowa accredited by the American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, and remained the only accredited cosmetic dentist in Iowa for 12 years. He was asked to serve in the AACD as its first Public Relations Chair, and he organized a reform group within the AACD called the Friends of the AACD, which helped bring democratic reforms to that organization in the mid 1990's.

Personal tragedy struck Dave in the late 1990's when his wife of more than twenty years decided to file for divorce. It was a time of deep despair for him. It was during this time that he wrote his article for the Church News: How to Maintain Hope in the Midst of Affliction.

In 2002, a series of unusual events caused him to reflect seriously on his career. There was much trouble in his dental practice. After much introspection and prayer and a visit to the Nauvoo Temple, he came to feel strongly impressed that he needed to change careers. While he didn't receive an answer at that time as to what new career he should pursue, for a long time he had wanted to start a publishing company to publish an LDS board game, Mortality, that he had invented in 1981. He hired an associate to run his practice for a while. One thing led to another. He decided to read a little about the publishing industry, and was very intrigued by the idea of opening a publishing company to publish books. In the fall of 2002, he opened Mapletree Publishing Company. One of the missions he felt passionately about was the need to get LDS authors marketed nationwide. No one had ever attempted this in any kind of a serious way before. He felt that President Hinckley had helped to blaze the trail for this by selecting Simon and Schuster to publish some of his books rather than going with traditional LDS publishers. Dave felt that more of this needed to be done, and that with his background in public relations, business management, and previous publishing-related volunteer work, he could accomplish this. So, on October 24, 2002, Mapletree Publishing Company was born. The name was taken from a large, old sugar maple tree that was in front of his dental office, which for a while served as the headquarters of the company.

Since publishing is a very tough business, capital intensive and slow-growing, he simultaneously began some Internet marketing, to provide a steady income flow as he tried to grow the publishing business. He took his dental practice web site that he had begun in 1995 and turned it into a cosmetic dentistry referral network. He also opened the first Internet dental bookstore in the United States, patterning it after one he found operating in the United Kingdom.

In 2003, he felt impressed that the publishing company needed to relocate. He was not able to find, in Iowa, experienced publishing people to help with his company. He also felt the move would be good for his youngest son, who was the only one left at home—it would take him away from ongoing serious family contention that was clearly harming him emotionally. He decided to move to Colorado, to the Denver area. Denver is the publishing center of the West, and there are many skilled publishing professionals in the area, as well as courses available to help Dave establish his knowledge of the publishing business. He chose the suburb of Highlands Ranch because of its excellent family environment, excellent schools, strong LDS population, and other factors.

In 2006, one of the cosmetic dentists in the referral network he had established had relocated to Chicago, and she asked him to create a web site for her new practice. He decided to help her, and soon discovered that there were a number of dentists who wanted him to develop new websites or use his search engine optimization skills to help boost their existing websites. He took on several clients, and found that he could take them to the top of their respective markets with the search engine optimization skills he had been learning since 1995. The following year he made a decision to delegate more of the publishing work to subordinates in the company and spend more time with the web sites. He created a separate company, Infinity Dental Web. He teamed up with a graphic web designer from Pittsburgh, and began creating web sites for cosmetic dentists. The more of that work he did, the more he enjoyed it. The Internet business flourished, and the publishing business began to assume a lesser role for him.

In 2007, on a trip to Arizona to see a dentist client, he met Sharon Lish, with whom he had corresponded through an LDS singles dating site. He began dating her, flying down to Arizona a couple of times a month, or meeting her in Colorado or on trips to other states. In June, 2008, Sharon and Dave became engaged. In September, Dave moved down to Mesa, Arizona and Sharon and Dave were married for time and eternity in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple on November 1, 2008.

With the move, he relocated his business. He found a marketing professional to hire to help him with the Internet marketing company, and he expanded that business. As mentioned above, publishing is a tough, extremely competitive business with small profit margins, and a long growth curve. While he was continuing to struggle with the publishing business, his Internet business continued to expand. In January, 2009, he found someone to run the publishing business and decided to dedicate himself entirely to dental websites.

Dave is a dedicated family man, and among his most enjoyable activities are those with his family. He has five children and two grandchilden. Sharon has six children and thirteen grandchildren.

His hobbies are jogging, golf, gardening, bicycling, fishing, music, family activities, politics, and community service.

You may be interested in visiting the links below: