IN MEMORY

David Diemer

David William Diemer

Born:  Feb. 2, 1947

Died:  Sept. 8, 1997

David W . Diemer , 50, of Sunbury, died Monday afternoon, September 8, 1997 at his home. He was born February 2, 1947 in Toledo to William Charles and Joan (Gernhardt) Diemer . Mr. Diemer was the manager of a record store, Used Kids Records Annex in Columbus and was a member of the Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship. Surviving are his wife, Elizabeth; son, Colin; mother, Joan Diemer of Worthington; brothers, William of Worthington, Timothy of Bloomington, Ind. and Thomas of Bethesda, Md. Memorial service will be held Saturday 2 p.m. at the Delaware Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 290 N. Sandusky St. Contributions may be made to a charity of the donor's choice. Arrangements are being handled by BENNETT BROWN RODMAN FUNERAL HOME, Delaware.

 

Most people called him Captain. At 6 feet 3 inches tall and 230 pounds and often sporting a beard or some other facial hair, he looked like he should be commanding a rusty freighter.

But David W . Diemer , 50, of Sunbury, Ohio, was a docile, articulate man who behaved like a librarian. That's what he was in a way. His specialty was music. His occupation was buying and selling recordings.

 

 

 

 



 
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04/22/10 04:45 PM #1    

Daniel Burk

He had the sharpest wit of any person I ever met and was never afraid to make himself the butt of the joke, so that even as you laughed at him you began to realize pretty soon the "Joker" was laughing at you too.

When Dave and I  first went to Univ. of Dayton for our freshman year we were stuck up in a place 11 miles from the main campus, where they put all the miscreants and underachievers who got into the Univ.  It was housing in an old abandoned VA Hospital.   There were around 300 young men up there who, since the Univ. had only started admitting women about three years before, had absolutely no chance of getting a date with the on-campus women (much less bringing one home to the dorm room).  With a ratio of about four males to each female, by Monday two weeks in advance every girl on campus was already booked-up for the weekend with the on-campus housed male overachievers (I think Bill Lynch was in that group--enough said) or the off-campus upper-classmen; whom we despised.  Therfore the Freshman residence became known affectionately (and accurately) to all, as "Horney Hill". 

So the young men of Horney Hill,  by having been stuck so far away from the campus life and in a place where they found little to control their raging testosterone, developed a unique bond that turned the residence hall on Horney Hill into something akin to  the  "Animal House" with every kind of wild diversion one could imagine to raise hell happening there.  They blew up toilets with cherry bomb fire-crackers, flooded the bathrooms  by running the showers and sinks full blast for hours on end. In drunken stupors they urinated in the  halfway on their way to the bathrooms and, on one occassion,  practically killed a young priest who, noticing a  box on fire on the lawn, got out of his car and attempted to stamp it out, not realizing it was full of fireworks.  When they exploded under him he actually became a human flying object which had not yet gained its wings.

But I diverge.

During the first week at the Univ.we were required to wear a hideous beanie with the letter  "D" in the middle and this, of course, marked us for all kinds of abuse from the upper class males--just what a young college freshman needed--to stand out and be humilitated in front of young women on campus.  Dave was not content to wear  just the beanie, he decided to wear a beanie that had a twilling device on the top, like something out of  the "Dead End Kids" or the 1940's  Hunts Hall Films, that made him look so ridiculous that, where the rest of us were humiliated, he gained attention and forced people to laugh at him.  You could hear the comments across the campus, "Look at that friggin idiot"!   "What a doofus"! 

Then things began to change.  People started gravitating to Dave and his dorm room was often packed for hours-long discussions about rock-n-roll and music about which he knew more than anyone else and his un bridled hilarity so that before long he became the center of the mad cap existence at Horney Hill.  You would see Dave head to dinner with his tray of food in the cafeteria and then pretty soon five or six other guys, hard-nosed New Yorkers and toughs from New Jersey and others all fell in with Dave so that pretty soon he was surrounded by guys who enjoyed being around him and wherever he went on campus he was at the center of whatever was "cool" and "happening".  Pretty soon the laughing at Dave subsided and becaem laughing  with Dave and he became became a cetner point in the life at Horney Hill  .  It was then that I realized for the first time that Dave was not only the funiest guy I ever met but a true natural leader.

He told me on the night after he and I attended the 20th year reunion with his wife Elizabeth that he had had a long talk with Coach Dick Walker just before and Walker commented to him how much he enjoyed having him as a lienman on the football team.  Diemer kept up the covnersation for another ten minutes and then asked Coach Walker straight-faced, "Tell me Coach,was I any good"? and listened intently to his response, knowing full-well that he (Dave) had never played football at Watterson or anywhere else.  God he was funny!

I was shocked beyond words when I heard he was gone and often think of him and smile. 

He is missed.

Danny Burk


08/10/10 11:42 PM #2    

Stephen Schieser

Dave was kind of quiet and shy as I remember him at Watterson, but a really nice guy and very funny if you got to know him and talk to him. For our 10th reunion a small orange cover booklet was put together saying what many of our classmates were doing - I still have it.  Dave had the following to say about the last 10 years and I quote: " Upon graduation, I decided on a career of sexual perversion. Later, I inherited 2 million dollars and moved to Uganda. There I started a turtle farm and repaired screen doors on the side. During the off season I became ill when someone attached a deadly marijuana plant to my leg. I survived, however, and presently living in Columbus disguised as a real person." This was some Dave Diemer wit - he really was a funny guy!

If I remember correctly, and if you look at the old reunion pictures, you will see that Dave always wore to the reunion, blue jeans and a white shirt and tie. He was a great guy.


08/15/10 08:35 PM #3    

Julie (Juliann) Lyons (Miller)

Dave was one of the nicest guys I have ever known.

He was my friend.  Rest in peace, Dave.


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