Daniel Joseph Christopher

Daniel Joseph Christopher (“Big D”) went to Heaven on August 17, 2022. He died peacefully in his sleep, joining his beloved wife, Elaine May Christopher just days before their 56th anniversary. Surviving daughters, Donna DeChant (Jim) and Rose O’Connor (Tom) are committed to continue their legacy through grandchildren Christopher Baris and Kaelia O’Connor.

Dan was a storyteller from his early days, judging from the accuracy, detail and length of the childhood stories he was telling just weeks ago. He grew up in upstate NY, played baseball, worked as a caddy, was an altar boy, and played poker. There are many stories about his adventures and at least one we can’t tell in print -- involving a random cat named “Spin Dry.” He was the oldest of three and shared many loving stories about our relatives “up on the farm,” and spending time with his parents Rocco and Elinor and siblings, Diane, and Don. After Elinor’s death in 2004, Dan and Don banded together to support their father, Rocco until his death in 2012. The brothers shared quality time in their later years, trading texts and calls until Dan’s last day.

Dan moved to Boston as a young man and met Elaine, who turned him into a Red Sox fan on their trips to Fenway. Once married, they settled in Albany, NY and raised their girls with extended family nearby. Holidays, cookouts, beach picnics and long car rides to see family were among the memorable outings that Daddy planned for his girls. Always up for a challenge, he bought a dirty, abandoned gas station and turned it into Dan’s Corner Subs and later an abandoned Dairy Queen became Dan’s Corner Ice Cream.

He orchestrated the move to Coral Springs, FL while on a family vacation to Miami Beach, thinking it would be great to live in year-round sunshine and open another family business. He and Mom worked together for years at Sunshine Subs in Fort Lauderdale before he moved to Broward County Parks and Recreation, where he spent 20+ years and accumulated many stories. When it was necessary, he took a 2nd job to provide for his family – driving a taxi, selling custom-made cypress clocks, or cashing tickets at Pompano Harness Track. He was a super-smart, self-taught man who was always an entrepreneur inventing profitable operations including bingo and card games, parade route watermelon sales, and grand adventures selling sports tickets on secondary markets.

Dan raised two opinionated, successful, independent women. His happiest days include the weddings where he gained sons, and the relationships formed with Tommy’s marriage to Rose (1992) and Donna’s marriage to Jim (2013) were very important to him. After Mommy died, Dad surprised us all and bought birthday and Christmas gifts, and he also kept Mom’s habit and recognized all of us on Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. He loved his sons as much as his daughters and his generosity was heartwarming.

His influence as “Papa” on Christopher and Kaelia is immeasurable. He enjoyed telling stories to both of them and also asked many questions and showed deep interest in their lives, even the things he could not relate to personally. He pretended to be interested in golf once “CJ” hung up his baseball cleats and he showed immense pride for Kaelia’s academic and artistic accomplishments. The letters his grandchildren wrote to him after he was gone are an amazing testimony of a man who had far greater impact than he understood.

His daughters and our families have memories to carry in our hearts for the rest of our lives, from times we spent with our parents and the things we did for Dad alone, once Mom was gone. For Rose, classic memories include the many Las Vegas trips, visits to Texas, Papa’s involvement in the recent NYC trip, including fantastic seats to see The Music Man; and their daily phone calls every morning. For Donna, the fond memories include Christopher’s first visit to Fenway, our laugh-filled 2019 Saratoga adventure, 2021 Red Sox Spring training, and this year’s Father’s Day gift – the Elvis movie (he loved it!)

Dad has lost many friends in recent years and has not been the same since Mommy’s death in 2020. He made the best of his apartment living at Park Summit, but he did not like getting older and did not want to be a burden to his children. While his death was unexpected, he passed into Heaven quietly, with no fanfare – just as he would have wanted. We will miss him immensely and live our remaining days with intention to make him and Mommy proud of us. While no family is perfect, and those of you who know us well will laugh at this – our sometimes crazy, talking all at the same time, argumentative little foursome turned out to be a family that Donna and Rose cherish. And, in the end – we would not change a thing.

If you want to pay tribute to Dan, here are some ideas: do something kind for someone else anonymously and don’t tell anyone, that’s the way he did it. Watch reruns of “Everybody Loves Raymond” and laugh out loud like he did. Make a donation to The Jockey’s Fund (https://pdjf.org/) a cause he cared deeply about. Or, make some smores with your family… as he recently asked Donna to do for his upcoming birthday saying, “You know what? I’ve realized… I never ate a smore in my life.”

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.kraeercoralsprings.com for the Christopher family.