David Allen Centers

Dave Centers of Sun Lakes, Arizona passed away on October 22, 2020 at the age of 77. Born in Richmond, Indiana in 1943, he spent his boyhood rambling through the countryside, bringing pocketsful of snakes and toads home to his patient mother, Betty. It was the start of a loving relationship with the outdoors that he would continue to nurture throughout his life.

The wilderness wasn’t his only home. Shortly after moving to Arizona with his family in his early teens, Dave became a towering presence on the basketball court. Years after playing competitively in high school, during his career as a mechanic for the local school district, he would look for opportunities to steal away and shoot a few hoops in the empty gymnasium. As he approached retirement, he discovered a way to combine his love of the open air with his physical talents on the golf course, which would become a space for him to channel his passion for sports and foster new friendships for decades to come.

Outdoorsy and athletic, Dave needed few words to express himself. His wife, Jeannie, his children, Roxanne and Jason, his sons-in-law Jim and Dave, and his granddaughters Mazzie and Savannah knew him as the kind of man that few are fortunate enough to have in their lives: Quiet yet affable, stoic but soft, reserved yet impishly funny. He showed his family and friends that comfortable silences can be a gift—especially when those silences are punctuated by a joke.

Dave spent his final days surrounded by his family and friends. And although his condition had robbed him of his speech, a lifetime of comfortable silences has taught us all that words are not always necessary to convey our love and admiration for one another.