By Louise Deegan – Originally published in the 2018 Founder’s Review
(See also: Earl Muffett obituary)
David’s father was a truck driver in Hammond, Indiana. In 1968, after being snowed in for two weeks, his father decided it was time to move to a warmer climate. They relocated to Summerfield, where his father and a partner started a well-drilling business. Later, Earl Muffett took over and renamed it Earl’s Well Drilling.
David entered fifth grade at Belleview Elementary and later attended Belleview/Santos Elementary, Lake Weir Middle School, and Lake Weir High School. He was part of the first graduating class at the new Lake Weir High in 1976. David has been working since he was 12, starting at an egg farm in Pedro and later at Stuckey’s. He rode his motorcycle to work until 1974, when he purchased a brand new yellow Chevrolet Impala for $3,500, with monthly payments of $81. He kept the car for nine years.
David worked at Russell’s Thriftway, Emergency One, and Martin Marietta before joining his father in the well-drilling business in 1980. He now owns half the company, with his father retired. The business has been operating for 50 years and now runs eight service trucks and two drilling rigs.
Working at Thriftway was an interesting job with always something happening. David recalls attending a grocers convention in Orlando in 1975, where he learned about the new UPC scanning technology. When he returned to the store, he told the older employees about it, but they were skeptical, saying, “It will never work.” Today, it’s used to identify nearly all purchased items. David was also working at Thriftway when the Green Shelter Restaurant burned down. He and Gene Hames left work to check out the commotion. Another time, Belleview Hardware found dynamite in the basement, and they had to call the Sheriff’s Department to remove it.
At that time, Belleview had only two grocery stores—Thriftway and Smith’s Food Store—and two restaurants: Lassie’s Restaurant and Golden Drumstick. David said he hated to see Lassie’s close, as it had been there forever. He remembers the Shell gas station across from City Hall and the Sunoco station on the corner of 441 and 301.
One year, David went to Walt Reaves Barber Shop, located in the back of a wooden store on 441 and 484, for a haircut. His father told him to get a GI cut, and he did. That same weekend, he also got glasses. When he returned to school, a student saw him get off the bus and asked, “Muffett, is that you?” His mother and grandmother cried when they saw his haircut.
While in high school, David remembers riding the bus when 301 was being widened. They had a new bus, #55, and asked the driver how fast it could go. She got up to 65 miles per hour on the new road. They thought it was great, though she could have lost her job.
David met Susan at Summerfield Baptist Church while they were in high school, and they got married in 1976. Susan had moved to Florida from West Virginia in 1972 after her grandfather purchased some lots in Belleview Heights. Their first daughter, Shauna, has worked for Regal Cinemas since she was 16 and now lives in Knoxville, TN. Their second daughter, Amanda, is a reading teacher at Lake Weir Middle School, and their third daughter, Melinda, works from home in Summerfield for a computer company, Tyler Teach. Their youngest child, Joshua, is a chiropractor and an aero-physicist who later joined the Navy. David and Susan have eight grandchildren—seven girls and one boy.
In 1987, they entered all three of their girls in a beauty contest for Founders Day, and Susan made all their outfits. Each of their daughters won first place in their categories.
David and Susan joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1979 after two Sister Missionaries stopped to talk to Susan while she was in the front yard. Susan liked what she heard and told David, and after taking the discussions, they joined the church. On January 28, 1998, David became the Bishop of the Belleview Ward. At that time, services were held in Ocala. Due to the growth in the congregation, the Ocala ward was being divided for the third time. David helped select the property for the new ward building in Belleview on 55th Avenue Road. The chapel was built, and the first service was held on December 26, 2004. David also drilled three wells on the property. He served as Bishop for three and a half years, during which he organized leaders for all the ward’s organizations. Although it was a lot of work, he enjoyed every minute of it.
David reflects that life has been good to them. His family comes first, with the Church second. He has seen many changes in Belleview over the years, most of which he believes have been positive, noting the abundance of fast-food restaurants now in town.
