Dave Milton died in December 2017, aged 71, after an amazing 25-year battle with cancer. The funeral is to be on 09/01/2018, at Park Wood Crematorium, Park Rd, Elland HX5 9HZ, starting at 14.15; no flowers, any donations to MacMillan Fund Halifax.

Dave was born in early 1945 (February give or take a month) at Hipperholme, which is about two-and-a-half miles NNW of Brighouse. Most of his childhood was spent in Brighouse. Latterly he had been resident for some time in Sowerby Bridge.

He first came to the notice of Yorkshire players in general when he assumed the role of Yorkshire Chess Association Hon. Secretary back in 1982 or 1983, taking over from A. G. (“Geoff”) Sunderland. At that time he was also county first-team captain, while then-wife Kath Milton was second-team captain. The couple lived at the time in Hull, where Dave was doubtless also involved in organising local chess.

In Hull he worked for a printing firm (Waddingtons?), then got the opportunity to move to a higher-paid job in the Midlands. Whilst Dave wanted to move from Hull to take up this post, Kath did not want to move, and this sadly split up the two, who I’m sure are both remembered with affection by those with memories of those days. Both were made YCA Hon. Life Members.

Time went by and Dave returned to Yorkshire, where, in 1993, he developed chest pains. Tests led to the conclusion the chest pains were caused “only” by stress at work, and that his heart was okay, but the tests also revealed he was suffering from myeloma, which in lay terms is bone marrow cancer. Dave was given six to twelve months to live, so he left his job and went for a life-ending holiday in Thailand.

The “problem” was that at the end of his allotted twelve months of remaining life he was still alive and kicking, but getting poorer. So, he returned to England and plodded on fighting the cancer.

In 1999 his health took a significant turn for the worse, and doctors decided to advise going for a form of treatment which involves extracting some healthy bone marrow and cultivating it in the laboratory, with the intention of going on to use chemotherapy to kill off all bone marrow in the patient’s body (so killing off the cancer) and then reintroducing the externally cultivated bone marrow to the patient’s bones.

Bone marrow is crucial to the immune system, so without it the patient is seriously compromised. Accordingly, Dave spent about six weeks around February-March 2001 in isolation in a Leeds hospital to keep him from infection of any sort. This time they gave him up to five years to live, but he lasted out nearly eleven years longer on top of that.

Part of his ongoing medical regime involved the rigorously controlled drug thalidomide. There is no such thing as a repeat prescription for thalidomide, and to receive his medication he had to write every month to the European drug-regulatory authorities in Brussels, or some such place.

By now he had found a new partner in life, which gave him more to live for.

In 2013, he became Yorkshire’s longest-surviving cancer patient.

Chess was a helpful distraction from his medical problems, and for some time while living with cancer he served as YCA Secretary for Correspondence Chess. As a player over the board, he continued playing into the start of the 2017-18 season.

He could be forthright and dogmatic, but was equally open and honest. Importantly, he wasn’t merely “mouth”, as he got on with actually getting things done! He always came across as cheerful and amiable, before and during his health problems, and will be sadly missed.

Steve Mann,

24/12/2017

See also an appreciation by Ihor Lewyk at http://yorkshirechess.org/dave-milton-rip/.