What should we learn from a life like our dad’s? In a world that celebrates ambition and wealth, he didn’t care about either. He was like a living Coca Cola. His ambition was to share joy, mostly in the form of candy, jokes, and office gossip.
He knew that helping others in small ways every day is its own reward. If you needed someone to wear a funny hat or shave their head, Dave Winger was your guy.
He was always puzzled by people rushing around or “getting excited” as he would say. Maybe we could learn that taking it easy isn’t such a bad idea.
He would read the sports page and tell his son-in-law the MLB standings, even though they were already a day old.
Goodbye dear dad – jokester, candy man, canoeing enthusiast, expert bowler and roller skater, Vikings and Twins fan.
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Born in an Icelandic settlement in Pembina County, North Dakota, he was surrounded by family his whole life, and told stories of his mom and aunts speaking Icelandic around the kids so they wouldn’t know what was being said. He loved traditional Scandinavian foods like lefse and vinaterta and avoided poultry, thanks to time spent working at his uncle’s hatchery.
The story goes that he met Dolly Grage at a dance, shortly after she arrived at the teacher’s college in Mayville, ND, where the Winger family lived. It was love at first sight. They married in 1968. In many ways they couldn’t have been more different, and maybe that’s its own lesson in love.
After Dolly got her degree they followed teaching jobs, moving to Iowa then back to North Dakota until they landed in Gwinner where they raised their two daughters for nearly 25 years. During that time he worked at the town lumber yard, grocery store, and school. He led many church youth group canoe trips to the Boundary Waters. Retirement in Fargo was cut short by Dolly’s cancer diagnosis and in 2004 they moved to Kansas City, MO, to be closer to their daughters.
In a plot twist worthy of its own sitcom, at age 60 Dave started working on the facilities team at VML, an ad agency in Kansas City, quickly becoming a beloved member of the bowling and softball teams. Dave is remembered by his many friends and colleagues as an uncommonly friendly, kind, and funny man who had memorized individual candy preferences. He also loved to hang around with his daughter Lindy’s friends and be part of their adventures.
He leaves behind two daughters and a son-in-law: Amy Winger (Josh Sitzer) and Lindy Winger, all of Kansas City, MO. His grandchildren Eli Sitzer and Zoe Sitzer, who were the lucky recipients of far more of grandpa’s ice cream stash than anyone will ever know. His brothers and sisters celebrate his spirit: Joy Winger, Gary (Jacquie) Winger, Paul (Julie) Winger, all of Mayville, ND; Kathy (Darol) Lachapelle, of Ada, Minnesota, and Fran (Winger) Gordon, of Kent, Washington. He was preceded by his parents Josephine (Walter) and Bernard Winger, his sister Bernice Winger Bachmeier, and his brother Stephen Winger.
And somehow he made it almost 12 years without the love of his life and partner in crime, Dolly Winger, who played her last note in February 2007. Dolly and Dave would have celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in August 2018.
The family would like to thank the beautiful people at the University of Kansas Health System: Dr. Melissa Mills, Dr. Rajesh Pahwa and Nurse Kim, social worker Katie Wyskoczka, and countless other doctors and nurses for their expertise and care. His favorite story for the nurses was, “When I lived in North Dakota I wasn’t sick a day in my life. Then I move to Kansas City and all I do is go to the doctor.”
Though his stay at Seasons Memory Care was brief it was full of grace. Thank you to everyone at One Community Hospice.
In the ultimate act of giving, his brain has been donated to the brain bank the Mayo Clinic Jacksonville, where neuroscientists seek to understand the underlying causes of pernicious neurodegenerative disorders like Lewy body dementia, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's. It is our hope that even in death he will continue to help others.
