Obituary for David L. Christopher
Much to the chagrin of his children, daughter Lori Christopher of Wooster and son David II (Daniela) of Streetsboro, this is all he wanted written for his obituary.
Dad, we honored your request but there is so much more.
David was born January 31, 1941 to Don and Evelyn (Buren) Christopher and grew up in Killbuck, Ohio and went to the waiting arms of his Savior June 30, 2021. In addition to his children and grandchildren he is survived by Barbara Flack Howell whom he married in 1984 and a step-daughter Kelley Weller (Newark, OH), and his sister Beverly and her husband Fred Welsch of Sugarcreek, OH.
In addition to his children, David has 6 grandchildren. Lori’s girls Jessica (Dustin) Hamilton and Kelsey Crowley, David and Daniela’s children, son Calvin (Mary Kate Haas) and daughter Nicolette (Noah Havener) and Kelley’s children Sophie & Georgia. Nieces, Beth (David) Westphal, Amy (Tim) Stephens, and Jennie (Greg) Arbogast.
As David was a kid growing up, he hung out with the likes of Jerry (Judy) Allison (which is actually Lori and David II’s uncle.) The stories that were told by David’s mom were hilarious. One of our fondest was when Evelyn found a string tied around David’s toe that led out the window to the ground below. Jerry was to yank on the string to wake David for early morning fishing (who would ever know?) Evelyn knew. As she waited for Jerry to come and tug on the string, instead of waking David, he woke her.
He graduated from Killbuck High School and was a member of the high school baseball and basketball team. Not sure if he was good or not, hard to believe he wasn’t, but he never liked to talk about himself. In our minds, he was the best player on the team and we will leave it at that. He was an Eagle Scout and spent time at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM and later in life he stayed active in BSA Troop 61, particularly Scout-A-Rama.
He started his lifelong career at The Wayne County National Bank in 1960, starting out as a teller and working his way up to president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board while still a fairly young man. The bank saw tremendous growth and was very healthy during his tenure with his careful guidance. Several of its branches were remodeled and modernized during his time in charge and it became the oldest surviving bank in Ohio before he retired. He held an associate degree in business management from the Ohio Institute of Business. He has received diplomas from the Ohio School of Banking, Ohio University; Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin; and the Executive Management Program, Columbia University. He had been an active member of Wooster Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, Ducks Unlimited, Medway Anti-Drug Committee, volunteered for the Salvation Army, and was an important part in the development of downtown Wooster.
He was a straight shooter, no bs man. You knew where you stood with him. Simple, easy to understand, easy to please, no nonsense as a professional.
He was loving, kind, generous, funny, and modest.
His daughter, Lori has many fond memories of him. She remembers him bringing home a “drifter” for dinner when we were very young children, one for whom he was finding lodging for as his duty with his work for the Salvation Army. The lodging wasn’t available immediately, and it was dinner time, so a guest we had. The poor guy had two little kids just staring at him while he ate.
While Lori was in high school, he would come to every game, standing on the hill, to watch a little football, but mainly to see the halftime show, never minding the rain, cold or snow. She also remembers being woken in the very early hours of the morning to go fishing with him when she’d come up to visit from out of state…usually catching bass at the Jones’ pond. And a favorite memory for her and her girls is when he visited them in Virginia at Halloween, going trick or treating wearing a big hairy gorilla mask… for 3 hours, lol. He was always kind and attentive, proud of his kids and grandkids. He is and always will be Lori’s hero.
As his son, I will never forget him taking off work to attend my many sports games. I will always remember playing pitch and catch with him as I thought I was going to be a great pitcher but in reality, I was just an average outfielder. He knew it, but never discouraged me. I could always look into the stands and find dad. He taught me how to drive a stick shift VW beetle when I was 13 on the dirt roads of the Shreve swamps. He taught me the love of fishing at the lake in front of his good friends Jerry and Ann Jones. He gave me a great high school graduation gift of scuba diving in Key Largo. He purchased my first car for me that I promised I would pay him back for and when I never did, he never said a word about it. He started golfing again when I became interested in it and we had some great times together on the golf course. He drank some of the nastiest tasting beer for my beer can collection while we ate pizza from Dino’s drive thru. He did pour several down the drain, they were that bad. He gave me a T-shirt that read “I can’t be over-drawn, I still have checks left”. Not good when your dad is the bank president, lol. I have enjoyed many memories of our trips to Canada fishing. One of my favorite memories was getting to spend a week with him in Maine as he and I worked to finish carpentry trim for my sister during a blizzard.
He also encouraged me in my business and had told me how proud he was of both my wife and I. That was one of the best days of my life.
David was diagnosed with dementia several years ago and has spent the last 13 months in the excellent care of Brookdale of Wooster – Clare Bridge. We offer a special thank you to Sandy, Jessica, Jessika, Tabitha, Sineke, Kathleen and all of the aides and other professionals for caring for our father.
My father’s final wishes were to have no public service. He asked to be cremated and for graveside services to be performed by his niece Beth Westphal. He didn’t really care where he was to be buried.
Unfortunately, his children are not in control of his remains or final wishes and are not invited to participate. (If you know, you know.) There will be however, a celebration of his life at a later date this summer for his family and a few of his close friends offered by his children and grandchildren.
A private memorial service will take place at a later date by invitation only.
Custer-Glenn Funeral Home in Wooster is honored with serving the family.
Words of condolences may be shared with the family at: www.custerglenn.com.
Dad, we honored your request but there is so much more.
David was born January 31, 1941 to Don and Evelyn (Buren) Christopher and grew up in Killbuck, Ohio and went to the waiting arms of his Savior June 30, 2021. In addition to his children and grandchildren he is survived by Barbara Flack Howell whom he married in 1984 and a step-daughter Kelley Weller (Newark, OH), and his sister Beverly and her husband Fred Welsch of Sugarcreek, OH.
In addition to his children, David has 6 grandchildren. Lori’s girls Jessica (Dustin) Hamilton and Kelsey Crowley, David and Daniela’s children, son Calvin (Mary Kate Haas) and daughter Nicolette (Noah Havener) and Kelley’s children Sophie & Georgia. Nieces, Beth (David) Westphal, Amy (Tim) Stephens, and Jennie (Greg) Arbogast.
As David was a kid growing up, he hung out with the likes of Jerry (Judy) Allison (which is actually Lori and David II’s uncle.) The stories that were told by David’s mom were hilarious. One of our fondest was when Evelyn found a string tied around David’s toe that led out the window to the ground below. Jerry was to yank on the string to wake David for early morning fishing (who would ever know?) Evelyn knew. As she waited for Jerry to come and tug on the string, instead of waking David, he woke her.
He graduated from Killbuck High School and was a member of the high school baseball and basketball team. Not sure if he was good or not, hard to believe he wasn’t, but he never liked to talk about himself. In our minds, he was the best player on the team and we will leave it at that. He was an Eagle Scout and spent time at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM and later in life he stayed active in BSA Troop 61, particularly Scout-A-Rama.
He started his lifelong career at The Wayne County National Bank in 1960, starting out as a teller and working his way up to president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board while still a fairly young man. The bank saw tremendous growth and was very healthy during his tenure with his careful guidance. Several of its branches were remodeled and modernized during his time in charge and it became the oldest surviving bank in Ohio before he retired. He held an associate degree in business management from the Ohio Institute of Business. He has received diplomas from the Ohio School of Banking, Ohio University; Graduate School of Banking, University of Wisconsin; and the Executive Management Program, Columbia University. He had been an active member of Wooster Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce, Ducks Unlimited, Medway Anti-Drug Committee, volunteered for the Salvation Army, and was an important part in the development of downtown Wooster.
He was a straight shooter, no bs man. You knew where you stood with him. Simple, easy to understand, easy to please, no nonsense as a professional.
He was loving, kind, generous, funny, and modest.
His daughter, Lori has many fond memories of him. She remembers him bringing home a “drifter” for dinner when we were very young children, one for whom he was finding lodging for as his duty with his work for the Salvation Army. The lodging wasn’t available immediately, and it was dinner time, so a guest we had. The poor guy had two little kids just staring at him while he ate.
While Lori was in high school, he would come to every game, standing on the hill, to watch a little football, but mainly to see the halftime show, never minding the rain, cold or snow. She also remembers being woken in the very early hours of the morning to go fishing with him when she’d come up to visit from out of state…usually catching bass at the Jones’ pond. And a favorite memory for her and her girls is when he visited them in Virginia at Halloween, going trick or treating wearing a big hairy gorilla mask… for 3 hours, lol. He was always kind and attentive, proud of his kids and grandkids. He is and always will be Lori’s hero.
As his son, I will never forget him taking off work to attend my many sports games. I will always remember playing pitch and catch with him as I thought I was going to be a great pitcher but in reality, I was just an average outfielder. He knew it, but never discouraged me. I could always look into the stands and find dad. He taught me how to drive a stick shift VW beetle when I was 13 on the dirt roads of the Shreve swamps. He taught me the love of fishing at the lake in front of his good friends Jerry and Ann Jones. He gave me a great high school graduation gift of scuba diving in Key Largo. He purchased my first car for me that I promised I would pay him back for and when I never did, he never said a word about it. He started golfing again when I became interested in it and we had some great times together on the golf course. He drank some of the nastiest tasting beer for my beer can collection while we ate pizza from Dino’s drive thru. He did pour several down the drain, they were that bad. He gave me a T-shirt that read “I can’t be over-drawn, I still have checks left”. Not good when your dad is the bank president, lol. I have enjoyed many memories of our trips to Canada fishing. One of my favorite memories was getting to spend a week with him in Maine as he and I worked to finish carpentry trim for my sister during a blizzard.
He also encouraged me in my business and had told me how proud he was of both my wife and I. That was one of the best days of my life.
David was diagnosed with dementia several years ago and has spent the last 13 months in the excellent care of Brookdale of Wooster – Clare Bridge. We offer a special thank you to Sandy, Jessica, Jessika, Tabitha, Sineke, Kathleen and all of the aides and other professionals for caring for our father.
My father’s final wishes were to have no public service. He asked to be cremated and for graveside services to be performed by his niece Beth Westphal. He didn’t really care where he was to be buried.
Unfortunately, his children are not in control of his remains or final wishes and are not invited to participate. (If you know, you know.) There will be however, a celebration of his life at a later date this summer for his family and a few of his close friends offered by his children and grandchildren.
A private memorial service will take place at a later date by invitation only.
Custer-Glenn Funeral Home in Wooster is honored with serving the family.
Words of condolences may be shared with the family at: www.custerglenn.com.