David Stanley Dwelley, 86, died peacefully on March 19, 2026, at Serenity House in Santa Barbara.
Dave was born to Augustus and Ruth Dwelley on July 25, 1939, in Somerville, Massachusetts. He grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts, graduating from Arlington High School in 1957.
Dave then attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he rowed crew, graduating with a BS in mechanical engineering in 1962.
He enrolled directly into the Harvard Business School MBA program, an unusual combination of degrees at the time, class of 1964, and remained a proud MIT and HBS alumnus throughout his life.
In July 1964, he married Ann Powel McLean, and they started their family in Newton, Massachusetts.
Dave worked his whole career at Raytheon, moving several times and serving in many capacities. He began his career at Raytheon Sudbury in 1964 and rose through management ranks in Massachusetts, then moved to Goleta in 1978, where he was program manager at Raytheon ESD Goleta until 1985.
He then moved to Wichita Kansas, where he was a vice president at Beech Aircraft from 1985-87. He returned to Massachusetts as president of Raytheon Ventures, then moved to London to be president of Raytheon Europe, 1989-91.
He again returned to Massachusetts, finally retiring as vice president for strategic development at Raytheon headquarters in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1999.
Dave and Ann returned to Santa Barbara in retirement, where he enjoyed tinkering with old cars, tending his ever-expanding fruit orchard, and traveling the world with Ann, focusing on archeological sites.
In his retirement, Dave was also a committed member of the First United Methodist Church Santa Barbara. Through that church, he participated in and led several teams to rebuild churches lost to arson in the American South, and help people rebuild homes lost in Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Dave was a man with a strong sense of right, an incisive mind, and many interests. He served on the Board of Santa Barbara Family Service Agency, and the Mission Committee at First United Methodist Church.
Dave was the treasurer of Santa Barbara Sea Shells, where he and his family spent many happy Sunday afternoons at the harbor racing sailboats, and Dave joined in to sail in the parents’ races.
An avid hiker, birder, and tent camper, he led his family on epic summer camping trips every summer of the 1980s through the Western National Parks, hiking up peaks from the Grand Canyon to Glacier National Park.
When he moved to Wichita to run Raytheon’s Beech Aircraft, he learned to fly small aircraft, earning his pilot’s license.
In retirement, Dave became a creative gardener and orchard man. He grew citrus trees of all types, apple, fig, and pomegranate trees, as well as keeping his extended family in vegetables.
Dave had a lifelong passion for old Fords. He bought his first antique car at 16 years old, a 1934 Ford 3-window Coupe named Rosie, and began a lifetime of acquiring and fixing up old Fords.
He never cared much about their paint job or upholstery, but many weekends during his working life and most days during his retirement, he could be found with his head joyfully under the hood of a 1930s or 40s Ford. His grandchildren all enjoyed the treat of riding in the rumble seat of one of Granddad’s old cars.
To his family he was Dave, Dad, Granddad, and Uncle Dave. Those who knew Dave know how much he loved his family: his wife and children and grandchildren, and his big sister, nieces and nephews.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ann McLean Dwelley; sister Marjorie Dwelley Reid; children, David M. Dwelley (Liana Landru), Steven Dwelley (Michele Nichols), Linda Dwelley Derezinski (Stephen), and Laura Dwelley Samant (Jaideep); and grandchildren Thomas, Hannah, Arran, Ethan, Claudia, Ruth, Evelyn, Sophia and Naomi.
Services will be held in the near future at First United Methodist Church Santa Barbara.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to Santa Barbara Audubon Society or the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.