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S i d e b a r
David Gave Us Laughter
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This Rock
Volume 13, Number 7
 September 2002 
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I was almost seventeen, already enrolled at Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Warwick, Rhode Island, when my brother David was born. My mother had suffered an attack of appendicitis five months into her pregnancy, and the doctors prepared her to lose her baby. But it didn't happen, because life is in God's hands, and God had plans for that brother of mine.
When he was born, as he lay in my mother's arms, the family gathered around her bed trying to think of a name. My father turned to me-I was home from the seminary for the occasion-and said, "You pick the name, because we know if you're a priest you won't have any children of your own." I liked the name David, which means "beloved one." Because of the age difference, our early relationship was like uncle and nephew, but closer. And this special closeness was extended to include the love of his life when he met and married Lynn Edwards. Lynn was so gentle, yet she was so solid, with such an incredibly strong foundation, which David not only appreciated but also relied on.
David and Lynn met one summer on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. He was working at the Eastward Ho Country Club, and she was waitressing at a nearby restaurant. They celebrated their thirtieth anniversary four weeks before they were killed.
After David's release from the Army-he worked at the Pentagon-they moved to East Providence, Rhode Island, where Lynn worked as a school librarian and David as a technical writer. But God had more creative things in mind for David. I think he wanted David to give us laughter. And so David and Lynn decided to take a chance on Hollywood. I confess I was worried about their faith, but I shouldn't have been. They were blessed, faith-filled, and not even the glamour of Hollywood would change that.
For five lean years David paid his writing dues while Lynn paid most of the bills with her considerable librarian and teacher skills. David used to write at night and work daytimes when he could in manpower jobs-they were awful jobs. Lynn typed all of his television scripts, which he kept submitting to studios. David and Lynn resolved that if things didn't work out in five years, they wouldn't waste the rest of their lives on the dream.
Well, five years ended. David was making plans to leave Lynn behind-while she finished up her school year-and return to Providence to hunt for a job and to find a place to live. But before he left Los Angeles they were invited to a party where David met an agent who asked him for samples of his scripts. And that is how David landed his first writing assignment: an episode of The Archie Bunker Show.
My father's name was Henry. In that first show, which centered around a shoe store where Archie Bunker's friend worked, David named the store "Henry's." Dad would have been honored. I think it was David's way of recognizing the gift of comedy that he had received from our father. My dad would have been even prouder when David received his first Emmy for a Cheers episode: The award was presented to him by Tim Conway and Harvey Korman, my father's all-time favorite comedians.
I can't remember how many Emmys and honors David accumulated for Frasier alone. And yet, through all the success and considerable fame that followed, it was clear that my original fear that David and Lynn would lose their souls to Hollywood proved unfounded. They kept their faith. They practiced their faith. They went to Mass every week. They were people who prayed.
Still, on many occasions over the years people have asked me, "How do you reconcile the questionable morality glamorized in some of your brother's shows?" I had a stock answer: "I love my brother. He loves me. But I don't tell him how to write, and he doesn't tell me how to run the Diocese of Burlington."
I suppose the whole truth can now be told. I did express my concerns to David about the moral tenor of some of the shows with which he was associated. He told me, "If it weren't for me, they would be a lot worse."
I think of the many lives David and Lynn touched-the gift of laughter my brother brought to so many people and the example of faith he and Lynn lived and modeled for so many others. And I say to myself-and to them-"Yes, if it weren't for both of you, life would be a lot worse."
—Bishop Angell
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