David Allan Ross: 1960-2020

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 of Rochester, Wash., born October 02, 1960, passed away peacefully at home with his friends and family by his side after a hard fought battle with esophageal cancer. He was born to Harry and Henrietta (Voncramm) Ross at Westpoint, NY.

He spent his life loving his soulmate Denise whom he began dating in 1980 and reunited in 2010 after 30 years apart. The happiest day of his life was when he was finally able to marry Denise, the love of his life. Dave and Denise were able to travel on sailing trips to the Caribbean and Bora Bora. Dave enjoyed these trips of a life time with friends and was looking forward to another trip. The night before his death he said he was heading to the Soggy Dollar bar in the Caribbean. He surely was.

Dave lived his life to help the lives of others and that is why at an early age he knew he wanted to go into law enforcement. He started his career as a reserve in Castle Rock, Wash., and worked for Thurston County, the city of Chehalis and retired after 35 years in law enforcement from the Centralia Police Department. Dave held the positions of Patrol officer, Patrol Sergeant, Detective Sergeant, SWAT team leader and rose to the rank of Police Commander at Centralia Police department and was in command of the entire patrol division, the detective division and the Anti-Crime team.

Dave was one of the founding members of the combined Centralia Chehalis SWAT teams and early on he rose to a leadership role as the team leader of the Centralia team. He was involved with the team almost his entire career and earned many citations and medals for his heroic actions in saving lives and leading the team.

Dave was a certified Clandestine drug lab investigator and was in command of Centralia PD’s response to the methamphetamine epidemic for Centralia PD. Throughout his career he personally was involved in over 400 drug lab investigations and clean up. This team provided a regional service in cooperation with the Department of health for drug lab clean ups throughout Southwest Washington.

Dave created the modern Police motorcycle unit for the Centralia Police department and was a state certified Police Motorcycle instructor. Dave also supervised the creation of the Centralia Police department Traffic unit.

As Detective Sgt, Dave created the modern Centralia Police Anti-Crime team and supervised the team in its beginning. This team later grew to be multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency drug enforcement unit now known as JNET. When Dave was supervising the unit, the team completed record drug seizures for that time and started a city drug seizure fund which seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal drug proceeds and provided funding for important police initiatives.

Dave was very active in community policing initiatives and created the modern National Night out in the Park, and annual public outreach during National Night Out in Washington Park.

After retiring he went to work for Bayview Lumber in Elma driving truck until 2019 when his health determined he could no longer work. He was an amazing friend and husband and was fiercely loyal to his circle of friends. That was evident by the legacy of love and friendship he left behind. Dave was strong both mentally and physically and faced death straight on with so much courage and grace giving comfort to those who came to see him in his final days. Dave is looking down on us from heaven and his light will shine through the clouds when we look up at him. Dave was preceded in death by his parents, Harry and Henrietta Ross. He is survived by his wife, Denise Ross; his sister, Lori Fischer (Steven); nieces, Allison Fischer and Hillary Moijtie; and a great niece, Emilia; stepchildren, Shawn Johnstone, Holly Stubb (Woody), Dan Fagerness (Kristi) and Jackie Thein and numerous grandchildren. There will be a private gathering at a friends’ house to celebrate his life. Memorials can be made in Dave’s name to the Law Enforcement Association of SW Washington PO BOX 1065 Centralia, WA 98531.