David Trimble

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 29, 2009

David W. Trimble, 73
David Walter Trimble, 73, formerly of Austin, died in Atlanta, Texas on Dec. 22, 2008. For 24 years David battled Parkinson’s disease until complications from a stroke, coupled with hospitalization and pneumonia, took his life.
He was born Friday, Aug. 30, 1935 to Gerald and Dorothy (Baker) Trimble in Brownsdale, Minn. The youngest sibling raised in Austin, with two brothers and two sisters, David graduated from Austin High School and attended Austin Vo-Tech to become a tool and die maker. He moved to Durant, Okla. to pursue industrial arts classes. Enlisting in the U.S. Air Force in January 1954, he trained in mechanical maintenance on B-36 bomber aircraft. His duties with the Strategic Air Command as a machinist took him to North Africa and Puerto Rico. At Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, Texas, his future brother-in-law took him home for the holidays to Farris, Okla. where he met and eventually married Lillie Harbison on Jan. 6, 1957 in Atoka, Okla. After his discharge in Oct., 1957 in Little Rock, Ark., David returned to school, attending Oklahoma Southeastern State college, Durant. He worked for a short time at John Deere & Company tractor works in Waterloo, Iowa. He drove school bus for Atoka School District, worked as a correctional officer at the federal prison near McAlester, Okla., lived in Krebs, Okla. and worked at the Naval Ammunitions Depot in Savannah, Okla. He went wherever there was work. The family returned to Minnesota in 1968, where David went to work for Hormel Foods. In 1981, exposure to liquid chlorine forced him to retire.
His hobbies were varied and included woodworking, a love of history, attending auctions looking for a bargain, antiques, fishing, hunting and working. He and wife, Lillie, traveled to Canada to hunt moose in British Columbia. He took his oldest son, Robin; son-in-law, Bill Bachelder and two grandsons, Billy and Nathaniel, to Saskatchewan, Walleye fishing.
His woodworking hobby turned into a part-time business. At 2 a.m. he came wide awake, walked into the living room, sat down at a table and sketched an idea for a swivel rocker. Now patented, all handcrafted specialty chairs fit customers’ needs. The Rocker Shop came into being on the edge of Rose Creek. Parkinson’s didn’t stop work on his chairs.
For health reasons David moved to Atlanta, Texas where he became an inspiration to other Parkinson’s sufferers everywhere by continuing work on his chairs. David believed in hope through a strong work ethic; it drove him.  “An honest day’s labors for an honest day’s pay” and  “Life did not have to end because of a disease” were David’s mottos.
Survivors include his wife Lillie, Atlanta, Texas; son, Robin (Kim) Trimble, Coon Rapids; two daughters, Shelia (William) Bachelder, Brownsdale, Lora Trimble, Atlanta, Texas; seven grandchildren, Billy (Juliet) Bachelder, Wells, Nate (Mandy) Bachelder, Blooming Prairie, Lilly (John D.) Christianson, Owatonna, Martha (Pedro) Loperena-Zamora, Rochester, Cassandra, Jesse and Jenna Trimble, Coon Rapids, seven great-grandchildren; six step-great-grandchildren; brothers, Harold (Darlene) Trimble, Austin, Richard (Marlys) Trimble, Austin, sisters, Juliene (Loren) Renz, Waterloo, Iowa, Geraldine (Robert) Wolf, Austin, nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Dorothy and Gerald Trimble; son, Ralph Eugene and a sister, Charlene.
Memorial services will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 2, 2009 at Austin Church of Christ with the Reverend David DeFor officiating. Interment is at Grandview Cemetery with military rites by American Legion Post 91 and VFW Post 1216. Friends may greet the family one hour prior to the service. Donations are preferred to The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research via email donations@michaeljfox.org,   donations@mjff.org or mail to Attn: Tribute Gifts, Church Street Station, P.O. Box 780, New York, NY  10008-0780. For questions call (800) 7087644. 
Hanner Funeral Services, Atlanta, Texas, performed medical donation arrangements.

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