David Tope

It is with great sorrow we announce the passing of David Loyd Tope: husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather.

A service will be held on Sept. 1, 2017 at 11 am at St. Cecilia Church in Ames, IA.  

There will be a brief visitation preceding the service and a luncheon following.

  Dave was born to Loyd and Thelma Tope on July 5, 1932 in West Union, Fayette County, Iowa. 

Dave attended West Union Public Schools and then West Union High School as a teenager, gradating in 1950.  

In 1952, he joined the United States Air Force and went on to train at Parks Air Force Base outside of Oakland, Calif., and later served his country in the Korean War.

Dave was honorably discharged in 1956 and moved back home to West Union where he got a job with Hansen Engineering as a draftsman.  

Dave would frequent Loftus Restaurant where he met a beautiful waitress, Darlene Holder. Dave would go there just to see her. After a while they began to date and on Nov. 24, 1962 they were married alongside Darlene's twin sister, Diane, and her husband, Don.

Dave and Darlene had their first son, Dean, on Nov. 12, 1963.  

They moved when Dave got a job as a civil engineer for the City of Waterloo.  

Not long after, they had their second son, Don, on Nov. 23, 1966.  

They moved around a couple more times for Dave's job but would eventually settle on the city of Ames in 1971. 

Shortly after, he decided to join the Army Reserves to be closer to home, retiring in 1992 with honors. He would retire from the City a couple years later. But with Dave's need to be active and working, he picked up another job transporting railroad engineers and crew across Iowa, and sometimes even out of state. Dave loved to drive and it was the perfect fit for him, but he would eventually have to leave it.

After his retirement from all his random jobs, he spent a lot of time at the American Legions in Ames and Nevada where all of his friends grew fond of seeing him regularly.

  Dave was known very well throughout the Ames community.

Dave passed away on Aug. 20, 2017 at Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames, IA.  He was surrounded by loved ones at the time of his passing.

He is preceded in death by his mother and father, Loyd and Thelma; brother and sister, Harold Tope and Margaret Foxwell.

He is survived by his wife, Darlene; his two sons, Dean and Don; his four grandchildren, Tiffany, Calyn, Tanya, and Derrick; and his two great-grandchildren, Koressa Rae Tope and Donovan Hayden Klampe.

  Memorials may be directed to the family.

  Online condolences may be directed to www.grandonfuneralandcremationcare.com.       35u35