NOTIS mourns the loss of David Neathery, a dear friend and colleague, a passionate Vietnamese–English interpreter, and a pillar in his community. What follows is a collective eulogy: tributes from Emma Garvaki and Rosemary Nguyen, followed by some of David’s own words — written more than a decade ago when he served on the board of WITS (later NOTIS).

Bilingual funeral announcement for David Neathery. The service took place on April 14, 2026, with many friends, family members, and colleagues in attendance.

Rosemary: “I loved knowing and working with David. He had this inexhaustible enthusiasm for learning new things, challenging himself, and sharing his knowledge with others. He was my favorite person to partner with on trials because I could ask him anything — how to translate a technical term, or in one trial we did, what the difference was between two types of beams in a house — and he would not only think about it and answer, he’d come back after lunch with a hand-sketched diagram to show me exactly what I needed to know.

When David and I spent time together, he never talked about interpreter gossip or personal things. He would tell me about how he installed solar panels on his house, some remodeling he was doing, or how to best design a forensic transcript template for a job he was working on. He was a geek, in the best sense of the word. He was also conscientious, authentic, and passionate about learning. I’ve always felt inspired by his example, and will deeply miss his presence in my life.”

Emma: “I met David Neathery through our work as court interpreters. We would talk briefly while waiting for our respective cases to be called, and it was always a pleasure to see him. David was friendly, smiling, and professional. He worked hard and was highly appreciated. ‘Kind’ is the word that describes him best.

In my role as interpreter coordinator at Seattle Municipal Court, I knew we could always rely on David—he was on time, he did excellent work.

I saw David in person just a couple of months ago after a hearing, and it was sheer joy to run into him. We hugged and chatted. He cared deeply about the interpreting profession, and, around 2010, he served on the WITS Board of Directors.

Principled, dedicated, and simply a beautiful human being—that is how I will always remember David.”

The individual Rosemary and Emma describe above comes through clearly in the words David himself wrote in a 2014 candidate statement for NOTIS:

“I’ve come up with a working/training mnemonic acronym VASE for what I think what it takes to become a good interpreter: V for Visualization; A for Attending/Anticipating/Analyzing; S for the time being is just a connector letter; E (perhaps a small/cautious “e”) for Empathizing (for understanding and not for advocating)—being that in order to ensure effective interpretation, the interpreter is required not only to look at the words (what’s in the vase) but to also to experience the context (the whole vase).”

David closed his statement by sharing what he hoped and promised to achieve as a board member, i.e., to “fully experience the camaraderie, to network, and to speak and promote the voice of the NOTIS member in particular and the interpreter community as a whole.”

Having spoken to several of his colleagues and friends, it is clear that his words and his legacy among us are in perfect alignment. David will be remembered for his kindness and camaraderie, his empathy for and dedication to his community, and for being, in Emma’s words, “simply a beautiful human being.” Maybe that’s the missing “s” of David’s VASE: simply beautiful. Or perhaps the “s” should continue serving as a connector, as that, too, is precisely what David was.

Would you like to share a memory of David? Or perhaps some words of condolence? We welcome you to do so in the comment section below or, if you prefer, via an email to social@notisnet.org. Yours sincerely, NOTIS.