David Michael Sanchez

David Michael Sanchez left a legacy few could ever strive to match. As a devoted father and husband, he blessed everyone he encountered by making every single day he spent with them as memorable as he could. He had a full day planned for Feb. 9 when he died at the young age of 67 in Hacienda Heights.

Born on his mother’s twenty-first birthday on August 6, 1953, he would often joke that he had already given her the most perfect gift he ever possibly could.

As a child, he faced adversity early when his family moved in the middle of his kindergarten year into El Monte. He worked hard throughout school before officially graduating from Arroyo High School in 1971 as a proud member of the yearbook’s Shield Staff. It was not uncommon to hear him joke about the class ode or begin a story about the hijinks he and his friends would get up to.

A hardworking earner and virtuous Arroyo Knight, he purchased a brand new 1971 Toyota Celica off the showroom floor and fondly remembered the time he spent driving his little Celica to classes at Citrus College and across Southern California. Like at Arroyo, he made lifelong memories at Citrus as a part of the Badminton Team and enjoyed pointing out how much the college had changed since he had been there on special nightly drives.

A loyal and trustworthy Knight from the start, he was proud of his service to Texaco Company and the Edward’s Theatre Chain where he was entrusted with handling and managing a lot of tasks - often by himself. While the Texaco motto is, “You can trust your car to the man who wears the star” he was more than trustworthy, and his hard work ethic got him the connection and nod to work at IBM. He served that company for 32 years where he handled numerous complex accounts, and he was a master of detailed Excel spreadsheets before the software became commercially available. Once retired, he had the opportunity to create brand new spreadsheets for everything including games and household supplies which allowed him to have a plan for everything.

His interests and passions were very diverse, but he fondly spoke of music and movies - often having an encyclopedic knowledge of all films an actor had ever played in and some rather obscure albums of otherwise popular artists. His penchant for music came from being able to select albums from his mom’s record club and his time at the theater and general enthusiasm for Netflix made his brain a database of all media.

He also enjoyed planning out scenarios in the true crime shows for how investigators and criminals should have gone about things. He would also critique coaches and players heavily when they let him down, as they often did, in his Fantasy Leagues.

A giving man until the very end, he would support his wife as she took care of her mom through a terminal illness for two years and provide his son with rides to absolutely any event. He would often cook meals or offer fast food treats as much as he could to make sure that his family was taken care of.

David Michael is survived by his parents David Sanchez Jr and Lillian Maese Sanchez; his sister Nancy Roxanne Sanchez, his wife Vicky Lynn Sanchez; his children David Matthew Sanchez, Stephanie Louise (Nick) Warner, Stacy Marie (Anthony) Martinez and Joshua David Sanchez; his stepchildren Katelyn Jane McCutcheon and Jamie Lynne McCutcheon; his grandchildren Cadence Martinez, Keaton Martinez, Ryley Warner and Mason Warner.

Due to coronavirus safety measures, the family has requested to keep his service and visitation information private. He will be buried in Grandview Lawn, though his spirit lives on in all of the lives that he touched.