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Van Charles Draper
Dec. 20, 1947 - Feb. 5, 2009
Nyssa
Van Charles Draper, 61, Nyssa, passed away peacefully on Thursday Feb. 5, 2009. Van was born in Ogden, Utah, on Dec. 20, 1947, to Miland George Draper and Iris Marie Van Natter. Van is survived by his seven siblings, Clark, Lynn, Debbie (Skousen), Roger, Willard, Donna (Galligar) and Darrell.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1967 to 1969. He married Barbara Fowers on Aug. 20, 1970. He is survived by their six children, Colleen (Mitchell), Derrick, Kevin, Allan, Brent and Tasha (Nelson), and 17 grandchildren.
Van married Monica Lewis on July 15, 2000. He is survived by their daughter, Audrey, and two grandchildren.
Van married Deborah Tuttle on Aug. 5, 2006. He is survived by his wife, Deborah, and her five children, Kim Cardall, Amanda Kench, Jessica Sherwood, Brittney Faulkner and Kelsey Faulkner; and six grandchildren.
Van loved to spend time with his family and friends. He often stopped to help stranded motorists, giving freely of his time and skills with automobiles. He will be greatly missed by many in our community.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations for funeral expenses to 518 Ehrgood Ave., Nyssa, OR 97913.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009, at the Nyssa LDS Chapel. A viewing will be held one hour prior to the services.
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Teresa Elguezabal (1967)
Like Vicky Luna, I also had a recent contact with Van Draper. On Tuesday February 3rd (this year, 2009) I got a call in the early evening. "This is Mr. Van Draper," he said. To me, the call was out of the blue. I've not kept in touch with Van since high school, he and I were never close friends, and we have no mutual friends to tie us. He was calling to see how I was feeling after my injuries. (I was seriously injured four years ago. It's not a good idea to be walking at the exact same place and time as a moving car.) I told Van I was substantially recovered and that it had taken me 3 hard years of rehabilitation. He was happy for me, but not as happy as I am.The conversation was awkward as I wasn't sure how much of my health history to go into with someone I hadn't talked to in more than 40 years. He said my dad had told him about my accident three years ago. Then why was he calling me now? Later I realized that Van was probably motivated to call me by seeing my contact information on the class list that Eldon Widmer has been kindly circulation. It also struck me as odd that my dad would have been talking to Van Draper about me. But then that just shows Van's and my dad's abilities to talk with anyone, about everything.
Van told me he had diabetic neuropathy (probably misspelled)that limited his legs. He mentioned nothing of heart problems or cancer. But I know from my mother's experience that diabetes takes no prisoners with the body. He also said that he was thinking of closing his shop, that he had to find a buyer for his business.
Because talking to him was awkward for me, the conversation wasn't long. Two days later he died. In retrospect, I wish I had talked to him more and that I had not been so guarded. When I read in his obituary that he was known for being a good Samaritan, for stopping to help stranded motorists with their broken down cars, I thought what a wonderful thing! And a great image, too: him poking around under the hood of a dusty old beater.
I'll never know why Van called me two days before he died. Maybe he sensed his mortality and wanted to reach out one last time because . . . just because.
May his children, grandchildren, wife, ex-wives, and his brothers and sisters and all other relatives find ways to fill their loss. Teresa Elguezabal.