David Harold Beerwinkle

David Harold Beerwinkle was born February 9, 1942, in Temple, TX, the third child of Ruben Henry and Esther Haas Beerwinkle. His first school years were spent at the two-room Moffat Schoolhouse. His middle school and high school years were spent at Belton Junior High and High School, where he played football, ran track, participated in student government and was named Who’s Who and Most Dependable, among other recognitions. Graduating in 1960, he attended Texas A&M University on a scholarship as an animal husbandry major. He was in the Air Force Squadron 6 of the Fighting Texas Aggie Corps of Cadets and served as Commanding Officer his senior year. He remained a devoted Aggie fan for the rest of his life, an Aggie cap almost always on his head.

Upon graduation in 1964, David took a ranch hand job for Bill Dameron of Hereford, Texas, and ultimately found himself at the Dameron Ranch outside of Saguache, Colorado. In 1967, through mutual friends, he met Sidney Kerr. The following year, the two married. In 1971, David and Sidney made their way back to Texas. They lived in Amarillo/Bushland, Bogota, and Pecos before settling back in Central Texas in 1979. In 1974, they welcomed daughter Amy Katherine, while living in Bushland, and three years later, while in Amarillo, they welcomed Rachel Hanna.

David and Sidney moved to Belton in 1979 for Amy to attend school in Belton ISD and David joined his father in farming. For the next two decades, David also worked sequentially at the turkey hatchery, Production Credit Association, and Texas Instruments. He eventually took over his dad’s Germania Insurance business and retired for the last time in 2008.

In 2000, David garnered two sons-in-law when Amy married Jeremy Artho of Hereford, Texas, and Rachel married Luke Fitzwater of Kalispell, Montana. Visiting his daughters’ families over the next 15+ years took him and Sidney to Arizona, Montana, Maryland, Georgia, and South Korea.

In December 2006, the second part of David’s life began when his first grandchild, Gideon, was born and he became Papa. David adored his grandchildren, entertaining them with YouTube videos of rockets, elaborate Christmas light displays (that played to the tune of the Aggie War Hymn), and Mater’s Tall Tales. He loved nothing more than playing dominoes or taking them out to his garden to help plant, water, and harvest his modest crops, his main pastime in retirement. He donned play wigs, taped on glow stick halos, and plunged himself fully clothed into the kiddie pool, just to make them laugh.

His last years were spent meeting the challenge of life with Parkinson’s. Even as he lost physical independence and some mental agility, his perseverance and determination carried him through the days. Even when memories of his past faded, he still knew the names of the residents and caregivers in their assisted living facility, Stoney Brook of Belton. His fair-mindedness and approachability continued to win over those around him, as they had his whole life. In fact, some of the visitors in his final days were former caregivers who’d come to think of him as their own “Papa David.”

David died peacefully on May 19, at Baylor Scott & White Hospital under hospice care while his son-in-law Luke narrated the Aggie baseball game on TV for him. He is preceded in death by his wife, Sidney; his parents, Ruben and Esther; and his brothers, Kenneth and Donald. He is survived by his daughters and their husbands: Amy Beerwinkle and Jeremy Artho, and Rachel and Luke Fitzwater; his grandchildren: Gideon, Zane, Jude, Cole, Graham and Adelaide; his siblings and their spouses: Linda and Tommy Birch, Larry and Margaret Beerwinkle, and Dale and Linda Beerwinkle; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date, to be announced.