David Dee McDaniel

David Dee McDaniel passed away unexpectedly on June 3rd, 2026 from a heart attack, with his loving wife Susan by his side. He was born on August 28th, 1957 in Jackson, California to David Clinton McDaniel and Winifred May (Babcock) McDaniel. Dave was preceded in death by his parents, sister Ann, her husband Mel and niece Debbie. He is survived by his sister Pat McDaniel of Sacramento.

Dave and Susan were married in 1983 and had just celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. They were blessed with two wonderful children, Travis of San Luis Obispo and Ashley (Mike) Seiler of Bismarck, North Dakota. Dave is also survived by two grandchildren Wren and Emmett Seiler and numerous nieces and nephews.

Dave graduated from Jackson High School in 1975 and attended Delta College. He returned to Jackson and became a member of the Jackson Volunteer Fire Department and also worked several years for Skip Harris Construction. He worked one season for Rock Morgan Logging, followed by many years at Amador Transit Mix driving a ready-mix truck. Dave was a close friend with Doug Mondani and drove lowbed and cattle truck for Mondani Trucking as needed throughout his life. After leaving Amador Transit Mix, Dave started a career working for Martin Fischer Logging in the summer driving logging truck, lowbed, and self-loading logging truck. During the winters he worked for CalTrans on snow removal and avalanche control crew out of Caples Lake and Peddler Hill. Dave transitioned to CalTrans full time on a travelling bridge crew out of Stockton. He then returned to Amador County as a full time leadworker and part time Supervisor with CalTrans. Dave retired from CalTrans in 2018 after more than 26 total years of service. After retirement, Dave worked for several local Amador and Calaveras County individuals driving water trucks on wildland fires throughout the state of California. During his last few fire seasons, he worked for Charlie Perrault out of San Diego as a water truck driver and maintenance man for fire basecamp sleeping trailers.

Dave was a devoted and loving father who took immense pride in his children’s lives. He loved creating lasting memories for his family like bringing home snow for the kids’ birthday parties, snowmobiling, and going on camping trips to the mountains and coast. He was deeply involved in their formative years coaching their sports teams including little league and travelling softball. His children were very involved in high school sports including volleyball, basketball, soccer and softball, and he always made it a point to attend as many games as possible. As his children grew, he remained a pillar of support by helping them with their home renovations, which meant taking many road trips to San Luis Obispo and North Dakota. He cherished life’s milestones like walking his daughter down the aisle in North Dakota, and found his greatest joy in being a grandfather. Another key joy for him was his kids' involvement in the Amador County Fair. He was very hands-on teaching them how to build the display over their hog pens and how to use powertools for their woodworking projects. Always the conversationalist, he loved the week he got to stay at the Fair socializing with friends and the community.

A man of many talents and hobbies, he took pride in building long-lasting solutions for his rental properties’ yards and interiors. In his relaxed moments, he enjoyed watching the San Francisco Giants and 49er games with his wife Susan, and playing Pedro with his family during the holidays. His favorite activities after retirement were growing garlic, pickling Eisley wax peppers, and taking vacations with Susan to the coast and mountains with their dogs Bella and Sadie in the 1972 all-original Streamline “Silver Bullet.”

He will be deeply missed by his family, friends and the community at large for his helpfulness, dependability, conversationalism, and deep captivating laugh.

Please join us to celebrate his life where we can all gather to share memories and honor the remarkable man that he was on Saturday June 27th at the Amador County Fairgrounds in Plymouth at 4pm. Refreshments and a meal will be provided.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Memory of Dave to the Amador County Girls Softball Association Inc. at P.O. Box 2805, Jackson, CA 95642 or Amador County Little League East at P.O. Box 743 Jackson, CA 95642 or organization of your choice.