David B. Vest

Health Care

David B. Vest has been involved in numerous community activities as a volunteer. He has been involved in working with the Manteca Rural Fire Department, countywide Mosquito Abatement District, and the Manteca Junior Camber of Commerce. David was selected by the Junior Chamber of Commerce as their Man of the Year. These volunteer activities are only a few of his accomplishments.

In the area of Health care, David was selected for the Hall of Fame for his contributions in assisting in the formation of an ambulance service in Manteca. In 1950 Manteca had neither an ambulance or a hospital and relied on San Joaquin County for ambulance service, which made lengthy response times to medical emergencies. Dale Johnson proposed to the JC’s a plan to get an ambulance for Manteca. He was named chairman of the committee and Dave was quick to volunteer as Vice Chairman. He worked tirelessly to bring this to fruition.

The ambulance service was strictly a volunteer service. No one was paid. David was responsible for organizing those that would serve as operators. All volunteers received many hours of medical instruction from Dr. Robert Winters. It was Dave’s job to make sure that all attendance was kept current and he scheduled all volunteer hours. In addition to his training with Dr. Winters, he has furthered his training and acquired his EMT certificate.

Dave remained active with the ambulance for over 30 years. He served on the ambulance board for many years and was President of the Board in 1955. This volunteer ambulance has grown to be the successful ambulance service that Manteca has today. David B. Vest has been involved in many volunteer activities in our community and is well deserving of the election into the Manteca Hall of Fame.