Friends and family members of the late David Simmons will gather in Haines July 15-17 to celebrate his life.

Simmons had planned to convene his far-flung friends and family members – many of whom had never seen his new home – in Alaska for his 30th birthday party in August 2020. More than 100 people from 12 countries were slated to attend the event, which was canceled by the pandemic.

This July’s festivities will be held under much different – and more difficult — circumstances since Simmons was killed in the December 2020 Beach Road landslide. The ongoing pandemic has still prevented some attendees from making the pilgrimage to Haines.

However, Simmons’ father, Randy, hopes that the celebratory spirit will be the same. “It’s David’s 30th birthday party. It’s not going to be a bummer,” he said. “We’re going to have a band. That’s what he would have wanted.”

He also sees the weekend as advancing the central mission of his son’s life: connecting people across cultures and national lines. David Simmons was fluent in German, Russian and French, and he had visited 77 countries by the time he settled in Haines in 2018. His book project, “50 Countries, 50 Stories,” was recovered after his death, on a laptop that had been in the repair shop at the time of the slide.

His goal, in both the book and his travels, was “to show that no matter what your background is, people are so much more similar than they are different,” his dad said.

Deborah Marshall and Caroline Hankins are organizing next weekend’s festivities, with help from Libby Jacobson, who was David’s partner, and her family, as well as David’s father and his cousin Cambria Goodwin. Marshall said more than 100 locals have signed up to volunteer in various capacities, including as host families for more than 50 out-of-state visitors.

Planning the weekend has been very emotional, Marshall said. “One friend who’s familiar with the death of a partner said, ‘This is how we say goodbye.’ And then someone else said, ‘No, it’s how we say, ‘See you later, David.’”

Marshall said she’s not ready to say goodbye. “He left a massive hole in our hearts. But this has helped a bit.”

Marshall and Simmons met at the Alpenglow in June 2018, when he was waiting tables in his lederhosen. Three months later, they were aboard a train hurtling across the Siberian tundra along with a multinational contingent of his friends. Marshall said there’s no way the trip would have happened without Simmons’ energy, assiduousness and expertise.

“David deserves this event and so much more,” said Jacobson. “It’s just another way to keep (him) in our lives.” Jacobson returned to Haines this summer — both for the celebration and to work at her parents’ company, Alaska Fjordlines — after having spent most of the past 18 months in California and Idaho.

She said several of the guests will come to Haines on her family’s boat, which will pass by the site of the slide. She imagines it will be meaningful – if also shocking – for guests to see where he died on their way into town.

Jacobson and Simmons had planned to get married this August, capitalizing on all the friends and family gathered in town for his covid-delayed 30th birthday party.

She said her attitude toward this summer’s celebration shifted after visiting Simmons’ friends – several of whom will attend the celebration — in Germany, Czechia and France this April. “It’s very hard to plan for something like this,” she said. “It’s something you never want to plan for.” But after having been hosted so generously by his friends in Europe, she said she felt more energized to “be a good host to them, too” and “show them what made David love this place and this community.”

One of these international attendees will be Karel Psohlavec, who is journeying to Haines from his home in Vyskov, Czechia.

Psohlavec and Simmons met in 2013 in Russia, when they were both foreign students at Saint Petersburg State University of Economics. Since then, they’d seen each other at least twice a year, traveling together through much of southern and eastern Europe.

Psohlavec was also on Simmons’ Siberian trip with Marshall in 2018. At that point, tentative plans for a reunion in Haines were already in the works: Psohlavec remembers screaming “Alaska 2020, baby!” at the edge of Russia’s Lake Baikal.

Psohlavec’s parents are also making the odyssey to Haines, which will take more than 30 hours and include stops in Vienna, Amsterdam, Seattle and Juneau.

Although Psohlavec’s parents don’t speak English – and Simmons didn’t speak Czech – the three of them became good friends even without a common language. “It happened quite often that David would come and stay with my family,” Psohlavec said, “and I would come downstairs to find him and my parents (sitting) at the table, just holding tea, looking at each other, and smiling. David didn’t need words.”

Psohlavec said he and his parents are looking forward to seeing the place that Simmons loved so much, but on the whole, he is approaching the weekend with dread. “I’m afraid it will feel like the final closure.”

He still hasn’t listened to a voice message that his friend sent him a few days before his death. He said he plans to go to the slide and play the recording there.

David’s father Randy, however, said he is looking forward to the weekend – both to “having people celebrate David” and to spending time on “David’s beach.” Last summer, Randy and his wife dusted the stretch of shore near where their son died with sand from beaches all over the world, which David had collected and stored for years in labeled plastic bags in his closet.

For Saturday night’s ceremony, Randy, who is a professional woodworker, is bringing what he calls his “David gallery” to deck the walls of Harriett Hall. The gallery includes a dozen large photographs of David from different times in his life – from clean-cut Fulbright scholar in Belarus to full-bearded Alaska adventurer – each displayed in a custom walnut frame made by his father.

There will also be a playlist of David’s favorite music and a slideshow compiled by Jacobson’s sister, Anna.

Among the many locals contributing to the effort, both Randy and Marshall expressed special gratitude to the Jacobson and Olerud families. Marshall also emphasized that everyone is invited to all parts of the celebration. “It’s very inclusive, as David was,” she said.

A complete weekend schedule is available on the Facebook page “David of Haines” and on bulletin boards across town. The main events are ping pong and pizza at Alpenglow (Friday at 5 p.m.), coffee and muffins at Picture Point (Saturday at 11 a.m.), Celebration of Life potluck at Harriett Hall (Saturday at 4 p.m.), and brunch at the Bamboo Room (Sunday at 7 a.m.) followed by a Ripinsky hike, lederhosen optional but encouraged, at 11 a.m.

Marshall said the “big event” is the Saturday evening dinner, where she hopes people will bring dishes and share memories of Simmons. Toasts will be recorded for his family.