David F. Fathauer's Obituary
David Fulton Fathauer, age 94, died Friday, December 20, 2024, at his home north of Dalton City, IL, not far from his birthplace. An open-house celebration of his life will be held at a later date.
Dave was uncommonly kind, generous, and humble, with a gentle nature and quiet integrity. On the farm and as a father, he was a patient teacher, skilled at explaining how things work. And he enjoyed hard work, his whistling often heard above the noise of shop machines.
Dave was born on July 6, 1930, in the family farmhouse near Prairie Hall, IL, the youngest child of Walter Fathauer and Amy (Fulton) Fathauer. Dave was preceded in death by his parents and siblings Alice Duncan, George H. Fathauer, and Wilhelmina “Billie” Schlosser.
Dave married Louise Krintz in 1957; she died in 2003. Surviving them are their children, David Walter (Connie) Fathauer of Dalton City, and Elizabeth (Milton) Otto of Urbana, IL, along with David and Connie’s sons, Wesley and William Fathauer. In 2005, Dave married Norma (Dystrup) Buckles. She survives him, along with her children, Ruth Ann (Steven) Young of Mt. Zion, IL, and Bob (Susan) Buckles III of Plainfield, IL.
Dave had a natural talent for engineering and problem-solving. After graduating from Mt. Zion High School in 1948, he earned a degree in industrial arts from Millikin University. While taking over the family farm, Dave also partnered with his brother, George, on a variety of engineering projects. They formed Radson Engineering Corp. in Macon to manufacture a portable grain moisture tester for farmers, along with other Fathauer inventions. They also designed an electronic planter monitor and licensed their patent to DICKEY-john Corporation.
On the farm, Dave continually innovated to improve productivity and efficiency. He modified machines or, when nothing satisfactory existed, designed and built a solution from the ground up. He planted test plots and, in the early 1980s, wrote his own farm-accounting software — which, like some of his custom farm equipment, he was still using decades later. He moved from the farm in 1998. In his final years, Dave still drove out to "talk farming" during coffee breaks in his beloved machine shop.
Dave served on the Mt. Zion School Board and the boards of Scott State Bank and Farmers Co-operative Grain Company of Dalton City. He was a creative woodworker and photographer and enjoyed theater, opera, jazz, and symphonic music.
Dave was passionate about cars (his favorite: a 1956 Chevrolet Delray) and was pleased to live long enough to own an electric car. The latest issue of Car and Driver magazine was still on his desk, along with The Economist and Farm Week, reflecting his diverse interests and unendingly curious mind.
Details for Dave’s celebration of life will be published as they are forthcoming.
Memorials may be made to Good Samaritan Inn or Northeast Community Fund, Decatur.
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