puppetmaker | Rest in Peace My Father in Law Gunter David

He passed away yesterday morning due to complications from cancer.

He died at home surrounded by family who loves him very much.

This is one of the reasons I have been rather quiet for the past month.

Gunter had been in hospice care for a while now and we all knew it was a matter of time. The time came yesterday.

Peter was up here because we were going to visit this weekend but his sister said that it would be a good thing if we DID visit this weekend as Gunter had taken a turn for the worse.

Caroline and the girls call him Papa Jack because when he came to America, he decided he needed an American rather than German sounding name.

His father got him and his mother out of Germany right before the Nazi took power. Their friends, relatives and neighbors were not so lucky.

Gunter had a passion for the American Cinema. He loved watching movies. He wanted to be an actor. Peter fulfilled that wish by getting him a part in Oblivion. He’s the guy who walks into the Saloon, sees that bad stuff is about to go down, and tell them that he’ll come back later.

Gunter, through circumstance, had to re-invent himself. He was a newspaper reporter for years and later became a family therapist when the newspapers were consolidating and jobs were hard to find.

He was a loving husband of 62 year to his wife Dalia. He was a loving father to his three children and a loving grandfather to his eight grandchildren.

After he retired, he worked on becoming a published writer and succeeded in doing so. He has short stories in various places that he had written. He was a good storyteller.

He was proud of his children’s accomplishments. Next to his desk on a bookshelf, he had a lot of Peter’s books. He told me that he was so proud of the man that my husband had become.

He was kind to me. He told me that he loved the way that Peter and I looked at each other when we thought no one was looking at us. He said it reminded him of Dalia and him. He made me feel part of the David family even before I married Peter.

He loved Caroline. Sometimes he didn’t understand what she was talking about, but he would listen very carefully and nodded a lot. He would then come to me for the explanation of what she just told him.

Caroline loves him very much and missed him very much.

Today the family gathers. Tomorrow is the funeral.

He will be missed.

I am grateful that Gunter was my father-in-law.