Daniel Lynch

Daniel Joseph Lynch Jr. died Thursday, April 17th at 3:17 am surrounded by family and close friends.

Dan was born in Madison, Wisconsin on April 21st, 1966. He grew up in Monroe WI, graduating from Verona High School in 1984. He was in many bands during his lifetime: he toured the mid-west in the eighties, eventually moving to Los Angeles in his twenties to chase his dreams of becoming a heavy-metal rock star. He attended both UCLA and UC-Santa Barbara, graduating with a degree in Political Science with secondary education teaching credentials. Dan moved to Grass Valley, CA to teach, but chose a career in IT. Grass Valley was his home from the fall of 1996 until his death.

Dan was a man who never stopped learning, as demonstrated by his ever-changing hobbies: First was music, as a high school bassist, which he pursued until the end. His accomplishments included several albums with his band "Shadow Killer", culminating in a music festival in Germany. Subsequent hobbies were Astronomy, followed by disc golf, gourmet cooking, motorcycling, mushrooming, ball golf, furniture refinishing (especially mid-century modern), and distilling alcohol. He always enjoyed helping friends with their projects, including basic carpentry work and sharing his computer/technology skills.

Dan was preceded in death by his two cousins, Lauren and Hannah Rankin, and uncle, Tim Lynch. He is survived by his wife Sharon, his son Jay, Jay's partner Nick, his parents Dan and Carla Lynch, his sister Beth Lynch, brother-in-law Gene Cook, their children Aidan, Joey, Ella, and Dan's five step-children: Megan, Valen Rose, and Isreal Paul Gonzalez and Katherine & Kellen Hopfner, to whom he was a loving and caring father. He is further survived by many aunts, uncles, and cousins and by great new and long-term friends, many of whom visited him daily or weekly during his illness from lung cancer, keeping him company, helping him with chores he could no longer do himself and helping to make his life more comfortable. During his last months, he received many letters, cards, texts, & phone calls, including calls to say goodbye during his final hours, exemplifying the deep and lasting nature of his friendships.

Dan's parting thoughts from a December Facebook post:

"I've lived a good life. I've fallen in love more than once, and it's gotten better every time. Today I have the partner I've always wanted and a love I always knew was possible but could never reach. I'm surrounded by wonderful people, and I've had some epic experiences. I've climbed mountains, wrecked motorcycles, traveled to interesting places, and acquired skills both useful and useless. And I've learned some fascinating things, most importantly, how little I actually know.

I've done some pretty stupid stuff over the years, but still, I've got no regerts.

Except aliens. I've always wanted to live long enough to know if there are really aliens out there. Oh well. "NO REGERTS!"

There will be a "Celebration of Life" on Sunday, June 1 in the Lau Christenson Room at the Goodman Community Center at 214 Waubesa Street, Madison, WI. From 1:00 until 4:00. Shared memories will begin at 2:00. Overflow parking is available in designated spots behind St. Bernard's Church, 2450 Atwood Avenue.

There will be another "Celebration of Life" in Grass Valley, CA at a future date.

Sharon would like to thank his palliative care team from Foothill Compassionate Care and the staff at The Sierra Nevada Cancer Center.

Donations may be made in Dan's name to:

SNMH Foundation, Cancer Center, PO Box 1810, Grass Valley, Ca. 95945 OR

Sierra Community Palliative Care, Foothills Compassionate Care, 11270 Rough & Ready Highway, Grass Valley, CA 95945 or online at foothills-cares.org/donate/