David Herman

David Wismar Herman age 70 of St. Louis, Missouri passed away Thursday, June 22, 2017.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Elsie Untied Methodist Church, 160 W. Main Street, Elsie, MI on Friday, April 27, 2018 at 11:00 A.M. with Pastor Rob Nystrom officiating.

David was born December 5, 1946 to Louis Martin Herman and Olga Dorothy (Wismar) in Saint Louis MO.  His parents resided in South Saint Louis city and he attended Epiphany Lutheran Church with them.  David graduated from Cleveland High School and acquired a liberal arts degree at Saint Johns College in Annapolis, Maryland.  He established life-long friendships through both schools and recalled his exploits in street football and Johnnie vs. Middie croquet at St Johns.  After experiencing life in New York City, Chicago and the wilds of Maine, David returned to Saint Louis and began work at Defense Mapping Agency in 1983.

David aspired to and attained mid-level bureaucracy with rumpled tweed and bow-tied fashion as a systems programmer and Y2K solutions man.  David enjoyed bread making, preparing rosemary rotisseried pork loin and stir fry. He lived at risk consuming Julia Child's The Way to Cook reposed in pre-drowse reading.  David turned regularly to his Norton Anthology of Poetry, quoting Chaucer, and sometimes A.A. Milne or Rilke. But he loved theology and dreamed to hang out at Concordia Seminary in University City.

Always the perfect gentleman, he was a reflection of his father Louis and mother Olga, polite even in the deepest stages of his verbal tangles.

And David was a devoted carer, bringing Weaver our dog back from his multiple strokes, and coddling his puppy Kleine Bruno Destroyer of Worlds See Him and Weep.  And how can his morning deliveries of fresh brewed coffee latte in bed be overlooked?

David traveled with family and friends. He adored "Camp" on the Tahquamenon River in Michigan and travels to Europe with college buddy Craig Freedman, with Laura to England and Japan.  Or simply hosting John Morse and Kurt Schulz for armchair travels of the philosophical and theological.  David was kind and soft handed, sometimes nicking himself with sharp knives in his vegetable chopping mantra of good food made well and displayed for the eye.  After retirement from government work in 2002, he became prudent and drew back on activities when driving meant losing his way and the stove was abandoned left on.  And when the microwave became an operational challenge.  We are all fortunate and grateful his impaired cognition caused him to adopt prudence over anger and denial.  We are all blessed that he sustained good humor and moments of delight.

Preceding him in death were his grandparents, aunts, uncles, mother and father and his mother-in-law and father-in-law Ruth and William Moore of Elsie MI.  He leaves to cherish his memory: his loving wife Laura Moore; sister Judith Roeder and brother-in-law David Roeder of Webster Groves MO; sister-in-law and brother-in-law Sharlyn (Moore) and Douglas of Owosso MI, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Jacqulyn (Moore) and Wayne Spillner of Leland NC; nephew Jeffrey Spillner of Columbus OH.

David was treated with kindness and respect during the days of his illness. Thank you to the staff of Dolan Memory Care Homes/ Frontier and Hope Hospice.

Thank you also to Tailored Senior Services for helping David stay active, engaged and safe while he was at home.

Donations will be distributed to Saint Louis University Brain Bank in support of brain disorder research and David's autopsy report.  What it the point? What was the point, to bring on disease of the brain that debilitates one so, threatens to strip them of all dignity and succumb when the brain stem ceases directing the organs to sustain life.

Cognitive impairment robs people of their lives, entire communities of their contributions, and our National medical funds. Support brain disorder research and treatment.  Online condolences can be made at www.smithfamilyfuneralhomes.com   The family is being served by Smith Family Funeral Homes, Elsie, MI.