Ventura—David Aldridge has encountered many setbacks throughout his life. Still, he faces each obstacle, his lower legs were amputated, with a smile and a sense of determination, looking for the light at the end of the tunnel.
DAVID comes from Vauxhall, New Jersey, and is 59 years old. He moved from Jersey in 1987.
“I came to Southern California in the Valley and spent two years working at the Warner Center Marriott as a chef,” he said. “My food and beverage director asked me if I’d like to do something different, and I became the Chief Steward for the Warner Center Marriott.”
He impressed, so he opened the San Francisco Marriott in 1989.
“I was in San Francisco for many years,” he said.
He misses cooking, but said he cooks at home all the time, and promises to cook full-time once he gets his legs under him.
“Right now, I do it for my friends as a hobby,” he said.
David encountered kidney disease in 1995, when he came back from two tours of Alaska, at Denali National Park.
“I came back the second summer and something wasn’t right,” he said. “It took about 10 years from the time…
