Dr. David Colfax Garre

NORTH CHATHAM — Dr. David Colfax Garre, 72, a respected dentist on Cape Cod and a man of deep faith, died November 22, 2010, after a courageous, four-year battle with prostate cancer.

"Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity." Gilda Radner.

"People living deeply have no fear of death." Anais Nin.

"He tried to do things right," said Peter Pakradooni, a lifelong friend from Wynnewood, Pa. "He could see through the outer shell of life and focus on what was really important."

A year-round Chatham resident for 40 years, and summer resident since 1938, the year he was born, Dr. Garre loved the town and its surrounding waters. Growing up, he and his family spent many summer days boating and picnicking. "Boating is a big part of my life," he said. "And living here has been truly special. At first I didn't know if I would like it, but it ended up being a great experience."

Many in town knew him simply as "Dr. Garre" because from 1970 to 2003 he operated a successful dental practice in South Wellfleet. "He took a lot of pride in that," said David Weaver, a friend from Manchester, Mass. " He was proud of how he performed his work, to the point of being, I dare say, a perfectionist." He developed a reputation for taking in patients who couldn't easily get treatment elsewhere, including those from nearby Provincetown who, back in the 1980s, had contracted a new deadly disease: AIDS.

"David and I established an amazing friendship", said Linda Challies, his head dental assistant. "He was never demanding but insisted on top performance and hard work. He would always listen to complaints, concerns or ideas. He was the same out of the office as he was in."

Why, a friend once asked him, didn't he practice dentistry in Chatham? "I think it was fear of failure," he said in his typical self-deprecating way. "You see, if I failed in Chatham, in my own home town, well, I don't think I could have dealt with that. So, I went to Wellfleet."

For 40 years Dr. Garre was a member of St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Chatham. He will be remembered as one of the church's most influential lay leaders. He served three terms on the Vestry and also was junior and senior warden, the highest positions in church government. He sat on committees that planned and raised millions of dollars for the church's expansion and renovation project, which was completed earlier this year. During his tenure, he served on 17 different church committees.

One of his most satisfying achievements was leading the effort to replace the church's stained-glass windows along Main Street.

In 2008, Rector Brian W. McGurk asked Dr. Garre to lead the 50th Anniversary Stained Glass Window Project. At the time, the church had no money for new windows, and no idea who could do the work.

Dr. Garre eagerly took on the task. After weeks of research, he identified a world-class stained glass artisan from Hyde Park as the leading candidate. He then successfully convinced that artist, Lyn Hovey, to design and build the windows. Finally, he led the fundraising campaign to pay for it all, raising almost $70,000 within months.

Workers finished installing the windows just two days before the new church facility was dedicated last May 23. Dr. Garre babysat the project personally in the church sanctuary, gently encouraging and questioning the workers installing the glass.

To honor his efforts, the church included his initials "DCG" in the lower right panel of one of the panes.

"I feel very, very pleased about how this has all turned out," he said. "I felt such a connection to it."

Over the years, Dr. Garre's reputation at St. Christopher's grew. In 2009, weakened by his illness but not giving in to it, Dr. Garre was asked to chair a committee planning to redesign The Cathedral Church of St. Paul in Boston.

"David did an exceptional job organizing this group and getting it going," said the Very Rev. Jep Streit, dean of the cathedral. "We would not be where we are today without his help and encouragement. I am grateful and so glad to have become his friend."

Dr. Garre also developed a close friendship with the Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, Episcopal bishop of the archdiocese of Massachusetts.

"He was my ideal of what a Christian layman can be," Bishop Shaw said. "His loyalty to the diocese, his willingness to volunteer, were impressive. As we would work on things together, he would open up and expose his fears and struggles. He was a very humble, vulnerable man. His generosity was special."

Dr. Garre is survived by his wife Patricia and their three adult children, Heather, David Jr. and Lindsay Bierwirth. A brother Samuel Garre III of Barrington Hills, Ill. also survives, along with a niece and two nephews.

From 1962—1969, Dr. Garre served in the U.S. Naval Dental Corps, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He was a graduate of Temple University and the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine.

Dr. Garre was born in New Rochelle, N.Y., grew up in the towns of Pelham Manor, N.Y. and Wynnewood, Pa., but always considered Chatham his home.

In 2005, he wrote a book about summering in Chatham. Titled "Do You Remember"¦," the pictorial history depicted four generations of Garre family life at his beloved "Fo'cas'le," the rambling family home on Briggs Way that his grandmother built in 1929.

"The Fo'cas'le was — and is — a force and focus of family unity," Dr. Garre wrote. "It provided endless opportunities for four generations of our family to gather, to love, play, laugh, share thoughts, shed a tear and live together."

Services for Dr. Garre will be held on Monday, November 29, 2010, at 1 p.m. at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, 625 Main St., Chatham. He will be interred in Union Cemetery, Chatham. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to St. Christopher's Church.

His children and wife remembered: "Our Dad/Husband always told us how special we were and how much he loved us unconditionally. He was a loving, caring, supportive, thoughtful and FUN father and husband."

For online condolences and directions please visit www.nickersonfunerals.com.

Nickerson Funeral Home

508-945-1166