David Lapham Colaw

David Lapham Colaw, of Erie, Pa., died Wednesday, October 5, 2011 at ForestView Hospital after a short illness of three months. He had just turned 88 on Monday. Originally from Los Angeles, Calif., David was born on October 3, 1923, the son of the late Dorothy Lapham and Robert Ray Colaw. He received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and graduated the Class of '46. He was a career Army officer until his retirement in 1972 when he relocated to Guys Mills, Pa. He subsequently moved to Erie in 2003. David was a gentle man and an avid reader with a profound interest in Civil War history and in literature. But he always seemed happiest gardening and tending to his roses. He will be greatly missed by his wife, Helen Louise, with whom he has been married over sixty-five years and by his two daughters; Sandy Colaw of Erie, Pa. and Barbara Sue Yurkshat of Manassas, Va. He was preceded in death by his youngest daughter, Virginia Schmidt. David is also survived by four grandchildren: Tara Yurkshat of Houston, Texas, Jason Yurkshat of Reston, Va., Joshua Schmidt of San Francisco, Calif., Corrie Poterjoy of Lexington, Ky., and by two great-grandsons; Cody Schmidt and Chase Yurkshat. He also leaves a sister, Roberta Moran, of Palo Alto, Calif. No funeral or memorial service is planned at this time. Arrangements were handled by the Dusckas-Martin Funeral Home and Crematory, Inc., 4216 Sterrettania Rd. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that expressions of sympathy be made in the form of a donation to one of the following organizations that were most important to David; Great Lakes Hospice, 1700 Peach Street, Suite 244, Erie, PA 16501 or West Point Associates of Graduates, Attn: Gift Operations, 698 Mills Road, West Point, NY 10996-1607 (Checks payable to "West Point Fund").