Christopher Michael Bathke

Christopher Michael Bathke passed away peacefully on April 28, 2018 surrounded by family. Chris lost his long time battle with Leukemia. He fought hard but in the end there was nothing more the doctors could do for him as the cancer was too aggressive. He choose to stop all treatments. It did not take long for his tired body to succumb. He was the loving son of Benjamin M. Bathke and Suzanne (McLoughlin) Downey and brother to Jennifer (Bathke) Gandy and Daniel Bathke. He has an expansive extended family who will all miss him dearly.

Chris was born in Orlando in the same hospital where he passed. He grew up in Oviedo and graduated from Oviedo High School in 2009. He attended UCF and Seminole State College.

Christopher Michael will be buried beside his beloved Papa in Rome Cemetery, Rome NY on Saturday June 16 at 11:00. The ashes of both Christopher and his grandfather will be buried on this day.

The families are holding two Celebration of Life events. Suzanne (McLoughlin) Downey, will have a Celebration of Life for her son on Friday, June 15th at The Back Nine located at 8752 Turin Rd., Rome NY from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Benjamin Bathke will be holding a Celebration of Life event for both his son and his father on Saturday, June 16th at 1:00 pm at 720 Kent Street, Rome NY. Family and friends are invited to attend these events.

In lieu of flowers the family is suggesting a donation to the American Cancer Society through Suzanne’s Relay for Life site (link is below). Christopher was involved with this particular Relay for Life event, raising funds for cancer research and support and walking not only as a cancer survivor at the event but also as a team member. We feel that this a great way to honor Chris’ memory and to help continue the research for new treatments and possible cures. To those of you who have already donated, thank you very much.

The following is a link to the donation site in memory of Christopher through Suzanne’s donation portal. If the link does not work please copy and paste it to your browser:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?px=35171599&pg=personal&fr_id=86461&s_locale=en_US&et=vjefkkRnan2oOh5EicSzew