David John Hapka

David Hapka Sr. was the best father-in-law. I experienced my firsts with him (extreme cold weather, snow shoeing, ice fishing, obtaining a tree from forest for Christmas, walking outside below 30 with frozen ice in my nose, hunting, fishing on a boat).

Without his guidance, I wouldn't have completed my Master's Program. He encouraged me to further my education and find ways to obtain financial loans/grants to make it happen. I will never forget when we to a Word Perfect class together. He would get on me for not studying prior to class. :-) I wasn't very thrilled with the class... quite boring. LOL!

He was a wonderful grandfather to my son Mikey, even though not connected by blood. There are so many fond memories! Especially when Mikey was 15 months old... and he would touch Bpa's outie belly button and he would jolt like crazy. Mikey would think that was so funny. He even had my son's first fish he caught casted and it still hangs on my wall today.

It was a blessing to hear from him a few months ago. He told me he didn't have much time and wanted to say hello before he couldn't call again. I got to have my closure and truly thanked him for all the love and support. I wanted to visit soon, but didn't get to see him in person. I am truly blessed to have this wonderful man in my life. Five years was short with his son... but the memories with Senior Dave was wonderful.

Melanie Bailey

Dave,you were a Dear Friend and Professional Associate. Dr. Russ Nooyen.

Unfortunately, an obituary doesn't fully represent who a person was. David loved to travel and throughout our over 20 year marriage beginning in 1996, we took many trips to Florida, Canada, and Mexico. We enjoyed California and our trip to China. David was fascinated by the history and way the people lived there. Trips to Florida included fishing with friends, including Bob Voell, the Daytona 500 and Sea World with his two step-children, Kristin and Keith Antosh. He adored our labs, Dakota and Kasey.
Sadly, preceding David in death, in 2005 is granddaughter, Abigail Rose, who passed away just 13 days after her birth. It was hard for him to see his son, Andy, deliver the eulogy and carry the tiny casket out of the church.
Although we divorced, we remained an good terms up until the end. David called many times confused, but he was easily reminded. He wanted to know what Kristin and Keith, and their children were doing. In his last call to me on January 19th, he asked if I was keeping things going at the pharmacy, writing the checks and sending the bills. After a gentle reminder he didn't need to worry anymore, he mentioned he was looking forward to watching the Inauguration on Tuesday, talked about some politics of course, reminisced and laughed about our fishing trips to Canada, asked again about the kids and said to tell them hello.

It was our last call, but it was a very nice gift to remember him by.