David Michael Kretchmar

David Michael Kretchmar was born on June 18, 1946 to Edward Marion Kretchmar and Alice Ada Hoskins Kretchmar. He went home to meet the Lord on February 18, 2022.Dave grew up west of Kingfisher and attended Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic School and Kingfisher public schools. While Dave was in high school, he played football, ran track and spent lots of time in speech class being Roy Moore's gofer. As a young man Dave taught himself to play drums and was in several bands. In recent years, Dave was in the James Ave Band and played with several other men in the Kingfisher community. Dave has always been a talkative guy and made many friends during those early years and those people have remained lifelong friends. Dave graduated from Kingfisher High School in 1965. He worked for Pioneer Telephone for a short time. From 1967 thru 1968 Dave was enlisted in the United States Navy where he was stationed at Da Nang Vietnam and worked in a warehouse. While he was there, several young men from Kingfisher would come through and Dave would try to make them comfortable by providing clean dry clothes and sending them to the mess hall for a good hot meal. After his discharge, Dave enrolled at Okmulgee State Tech and earned an associate's degree in refrigeration and appliance repair. Then he went to work for a Whirlpool appliance dealership in Chickasha, OK. On Oct. 28, 1972, Dave married Mary Loretta Reherman. He loved to call her "Retta" and he teased and pushed her buttons from their first date night up till the end of his life. Dave and Loretta made their first home west of Norge, Ok and he continued to work at the appliance's dealership in Chickasha. Their son, Brian was born during their time in Chickasha. In 1978 the family moved back to Kingfisher, Dave went to work for Pioneer Telephone and Kevin was born a year later. After Loretta's mother passed away the family moved to the farm and Dave took over the farming operation. He didn't have very good equipment to start out. Art Annuschat once told him that he farmed like Fred Flintstone. But later Art told him, "Dave, I didn't know if you were going to make it, but you just kept working hard and you did make it, I'm proud of you." That meant so much to Dave. During the years that Dave worked for Pioneer he burned the candle at both ends, working for Pioneer during the day and farming at night. He also squeezed in some community service. He was a member of the local American Legion Post and served as commander for a couple of years. Dave also served on the Kingfisher Co Wheat Growers Association board. He enjoyed helping with the annual meeting and meal. He would keep the other board members entertained while they prepared the meal.After his retirement in 2012, Dave got to spend more time with his family and friends and farming full time which he loved. He liked to visit other farmers in the coffee shops, giving advice to the kids and grandkids and teaching the grand kids how to do things around the farm. Dave and Loretta used to love doing things with their friends. They especially enjoyed Sunday breakfasts and trips to Branson with Gary and Gerry Mueggenborg. They also like to eat chicken with Wendal and Diane Brodrick. When Dave really wanted to learn something, he would head over to the "Halls of Knowledge" aka, the Annuschat Dairy. Those Annuschat brothers loved to talk and impart knowledge almost as much as Dave did. He really loved those guys. He also liked to drive out to the feed-lot and shoot the breeze with Scott Winters. Loretta had to track Dave down many times. Scott thought it was really sweet that Loretta was concerned about Dave's well-being. Dave loved God, his family and friends and his Church of Christ family. He also had a strong love of his country. He never met a stranger. He always had a smile on his face and a cheerful demeanor and a great sense of humor. He treated all people with respect and had a great work ethic. He tried hard to instill those qualities in his kids and grandkids.In 2015, Dave's health began to deteriorate and he had to go on kidney dialysis for almost 5 years until he got a kidney transplant in July of 2020. He was a strong man. He drove himself to dialysis 3 days a week and he didn't feel that great but he rarely complained. The dialysis nurses loved him and he brightened their day with all his stories.During his last 3 or 4 weeks on earth Dave spent time entertaining the nurses with his stories and spending time calling friends and family on the phone. The nurses had to run into his room many times to scold him because he was using too much oxygen from talking.Dave always hoped there would be dogs in heaven and absolutely no Mondays, we hope he is getting his wish. We are really going to miss him. In his wife's opinion, the world would be a much better place if there were more men like Dave and fewer politicians.Dave is survived by his wife, Loretta; son, Brian and wife Sharine of Mustang and their sons, Tristen and Jaxon; Son, Kevin and wife Ashley of Kingfisher and their children, Kolton, Kaleb and Kurtis Kretchmar and Taylor and Skyler Peterson; Sister, Carole Rayburn and husband Dean; Former sister-in-law, Joan Schoelen and numerous extended families.He was preceded in death by his parents, Ed and Alice Kretchmar; brother, Ed Kretchmar, Jr. and his in-laws, Henry and Lucille Reherman.Services for Dave were held at 10:30, Friday, February 25 at the Kingfisher Church of Christ officiated by Rev. Daniel Mayfield.