Astoria, Oregon

Dave Masters

Although I did not actually graduate from Astoria High School I did spend half of my high schooling there and grew up with classmates from grade school, through high school with fellow Astorians. The name used during those formulative years was Dave Lewis.

Growing up in Blue Ridge (a hippie community outside the Astoria city limits) was an experience that shaped my young life into the spacey weird-o that I would become, constantly struggling between psychadelia and reality. It was there that I had my first (and only) UFO experience. The sighting was late-at-night In April 1970, and set Blue Ridge (located closer to Tongue Point than Astoria) ablaze with excitement. The media discounted the event as, "Nocturnal Lights," but I knew better. I took a whole roll of photos, but my film came back grainy black.

Dave Then

Dave Now

Having divorced parents, my Junior and Senior high school years had me living at irregular intervals between Astoria, Oregon and Hoquiam & Aberdeen, Washington, with a few other locations thrown-in for flavor.

An avid young guitarist/songwiter, I played throughout the Pacific Northwest in smokey gin joints and nightclubs. I also teamed-up with God. He and His club began to permeate my songwriting of the day.

I made a few recordings of these songs back-in-the-day. For those who are interested, you can check-out recent homemade CD's of the old tapes from the olden days using my stage-name, Dave-Michael Valentine.

I worked with Everett Hughes and Richard LaMere, at Teen Challenge Northwest in Aberdeen, Washington in 1977, as my foray into the ministry. It was there that I met and married my first wife, Mary (Johnson). We were blessed with three children, Nat, Tabitha and Jaycie, before discovering that we could no longer co-habitate.

Several marriages and names later, I met and married Shelley (Fairbairn) that resulted in the worst divorce ever... Don't try this at home.

If you'd like to shoot-the-breeze about the days gone by, feel free to drop me a line at webmanabc@hotmail.com.