Robert Dasch

Robert Dasch, age 50, of Warden, passed away on May 22, 2009, at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane from complications associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome.

Arrangements are in care of Kayser’s Chapel and Crematory, Moses Lake. Please sign the book or leave a note for the family at www.kayserschapel.com

Robert was born May 2, 1959, in Levittown, Pa., the fourth and youngest child of Raymond and Margaret Dasch. He was raised with his sisters Nancy and Susan and his brother George on the Delaware River in Trenton, N.J., by his parents and his maternal grandmother, Dewey Besore. Robert’s friendly, generous nature, his curiosity and expansive intelligence were evident from a very young age, causing everyone in the family to dote on him, and everyone who met him to be instantly disarmed. Cranky neighbors who terrorized his siblings and other neighborhood children could be seen offering Robert cookies and Kool-Aid. He was unique and special and utterly irresistible from the start.  

Robert left the East Coast for Los Angeles in 1977, where he met Ruth Kurkowski. They were married on Oct. 8, 1983, in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., and subsequently moved to Ruth’s home town in Warden. Robert and Ruth worked together in Alaska for a salmon processing business, but eventually settled in Warden, where Robert was employed by the Warden School District. Robert loved to read, and to fish, and to raise tomatoes and eggplant in his garden each summer, and he was famous for his homemade pizza and hoggies. He was a diehard Yankees fan (he never quite got over Thurmon Munson’s death in 1979) and was always willing to wager on the Super Bowl. He embraced life, and anyone who was fortunate to know him was a better person for it. He will be greatly missed.  

Robert is survived by his wife Ruth and his beloved dog, Sadie in Warden, his sister Nancy and brother-in-law Moss Calhelha in Cornwall, N.Y., his sister Susan Dasch in Trenton, N.J., his brother George Dasch in Langhorne, Pa., his nieces Dana Dasch and Kate Dasch in New York City, his niece Jane Calhelha in Asheville, N.C., nephew, Cpt. Robert Calhelha (U.S. Army) in Vilseck, Germany, George Dasch II in Levittown, N.J., mother-in-law and father-in-law, Betty and Joe Kurkowski, Warden, sister-in-law and brother-in-law Roxanne and Mark Clark, Warden, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Joe and Patti Kurkowski, Warden, nephews Eric Clark, Moses Lake, Travis Clark (Jody), Moses Lake, Kerry Kurkowski, Longview, Wash., nieces Angela Clausen, Moses Lake, Stacie White (Steve) Spokane and great nephews Clayton Clark, Brock Clark, Moses Lake, great nieces Madisyn Clark, Brooklyn Clark Moses Lake, Kylie White, Spokane.

Robert was preceded in death by his parents, Raymond and Margaret Dasch, sister-in-laws Teresa Kurkowski and Donna Dasch.   

Robert instructed that there be no formal memorial service. Donations may be made in his memory to National Public Radio or to the Moses Lake-Grant County Humane Society, 7321 Randolph Road, Moses Lake, WA 98837.

If you can fill the journey

Of a minute

With sixty seconds worth of wonder and delight

Then

The Earth is yours

And Everything that’s in it

But more than that

I know

You’ll be alright

You’ll be alright.