David Delph

David Delph

passed away in Sarasota, FL while in the care of Tidewell Hospice on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 after a fierce multi-year long battle with COPD.

He was born on November 1, 1935 in Indianapolis, IN on the kitchen table in a rented apartment on East 16th Street. David was the oldest son of Merle Addison Delph from Wilkinson, IN (died in 1978) and Josephine Cornelius Murphy from Kentland, IN (died in 2006). He attended IPS # 70 and IPS # 84 before graduating from Shortridge High School in 1954 in addition to spending four summers from 1950-53 as a cadet at Culver Military Academy. He studied at Indiana University in addition to Indiana Central and Butler University before being drafted into the United States Army Counter Intelligence Corps.

At age 16 he went to work for the Delph family business, the MA Delph Company, working in their Hide Processing Plant and corporate headquarters located at 517 West Ray Street in Indianapolis. After losing an eminent domain proceeding, the company was dissolved to make way for the expansion of Interstate 70 leading out to the Indianapolis International Airport. The Delph family moved from their Indianapolis home at 5500 Washington Boulevard to Carmel, IN in the summer of 1953, to a home that still stands just east of Keystone Avenue off of Main Street. Once honorably discharged from the Army and after dissolution of the family business, David was recruited and joined Iowa Beef Processors as a Vice President and assumed the position of President of its wholly owned subsidiary, the Denison Hide Company. David was a lifelong basketball fan, playing high school basketball at Shortridge and was intensely loyal to his Indiana Hoosiers.

He was predeceased by both parents and his younger brother, Thomas Ray Delph, who died in 2002 from the same disease. David is survived by his younger brother, Charles Eugene (Oshkosh, WI); four sons, Jamie (Cindy) of Buford, GA; Stephen of Carmel, IN; Mike (Beth) of Carmel, IN; and John (Becky) of Frankton, IN; in addition to ten grandchildren, Brittany, Courtney, Abby, Evelyn, Isaiah, Anna, David, Emma, Eliana, and Lilly; and one great grandchild, Jordyn.

Visitation will take place Friday, April 19th from 4-8 p.m. at Condo and Son Funeral Home located at 130 South Main Street, Wilkinson, IN 46186. Additional visitation will take place 9 a.m. - 11 a.m. on Saturday, April 20th followed by the funeral service at 11 a.m. A private family burial with full military honors at the Delph family burial plot in McCray Cemetery will take place after the service. Donations, in lieu of flowers, may be made to the Damien Center in Name of Stephen Delph, 26 North Arsenal Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46201.