FORT WORTH — David Eugene Phaup, 58, relinquished his earthly estate to be with our Savior on Tuesday, March 20, 2012, after an eight-year battle with primary liver cancer.
Service: 10 a.m. Saturday at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 300 Ridgecrest Drive, Saginaw. Graveside service: 3:30 p.m. in Blanket at Rock Church Cemetery on County Rd. 362, 1/2 mile east of FM 1467. County Road 362 turns to the east off FM 1467, two miles north of Blanket.
Visitation: 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Biggers Funeral Home.
During David’s illness, he participated in clinical trials for new therapies and experimental drugs with doctors at Texas Oncology and The Mary Crowley Research Center in Dallas. He participated in the trial studies to not just help himself, but “to help future generations as well,” he said. Phaup was a dedicated employee of the city of Fort Worth Equipment Services Division for 29 years, where he served as a service technician, crew leader, and acting service director at the police garage, then on Cherry Street.
Upon taking early retirement for medical reasons in 2003, he had accrued more than 180 days of unused, paid sick leave. Since 2003, he had been a substitute teacher for the Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD, gladly teaching all grade levels in any subject. In addition, he had been serving as an active priesthood leader and ward missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the Saginaw Ward. He enjoyed golf, fishing, hunting and playing with his stepchildren and grandchildren, who knew him as “PaPa.” Through all of these activities he became known as a “friend to all,” both young and old.
David was preceded in death by his natural parents, Thomas Phaup and Helen Fleet of Brownwood; an infant sister; and by his aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Robison of Fort Worth, who reared him. He was beloved, and known to them as “their son.”
Survivors include his wife, Irene M. Phaup; stepchildren and their spouses, Brian Teel and Adrienne Graham, Jennifer and Bryan Webster, Rene Nichols, Travis and Holly Teel; grandchildren, Lily Nichols, 9, Logan Nichols, 7, Seth Baldwin, 7, Kennedy Teel, 3, and Preston “David,” 2 months; cousins, Marilyn Van Houtan and Nancy English, Brent, Cheryl, Maggie and Abby English, Jason, Heather and Eva English; sisters, Claudia Ann Shrimpf and Juanita Martin; brother, Michael Phaup; nieces and nephews, Earnest Midlin, Robert Midlin, “Trey” Riddle, Trent Riddle, Tessie Coffey and Kalisha Phaup; several other loving cousins, their children, and grandchildren will miss David.
