David Michael Shapland

David Michael Shapland June 14, 1960 ~ November 21, 2023 David M. Shapland was born in Omaha, NE to the late Robert B. Shapland and Joanne Tekrony (Nelson). He passed away surrounded by his family at his home in Springfield. Throughout his life, one thing remained constant with Dave, he was tough (and unbelievably stubborn). After his diagnosis, he remained as tough as ever and constantly wanted to fight to live his life as normally as possible. He was helping his daughter look for homes and cars or telling her classic stories she’d never heard while watching their favorite shows together, visiting with Lorraine and helping her around her home, hanging drywall and laying carpet with his son, and even running electricity in his and Robin’s new garage. In February, he had his first brain surgery. After losing most strength and mobility in his right side (his dominant side), he maintained that nothing was changing and fought hard as ever to rehabilitate so he could still do all of his favorite things. He rode along in his golf cart for his golf league, went to a Creighton basketball game, and the stubborn man even modified a fishing pole to fish one-handed to ensure the annual fishing trip was still happening. He made sure three of his great friends, his three brothers, one nephew, his son, and son-in-law would be going. Dave caught several fish on his own on that trip and made many memories. In June, he had his second surgery and lost even more mobility and strength. While rehabilitating at Madonna, he was given a Spirit Award for his courage, will, and strength. He fought hard every single day to gain as much back as he could. He fought so hard that he was still swimming in his pool despite not being able to use half of his body. He was still teaching his kids skills up until the very end, even instructing everyone on how to close the pool while maintaining a watchful eye from the scooter. Ultimately, Dave did everything he could to fight as long as possible and even at the end was insistent on getting to his chair to be with friends and family, which he was. He will be with us always. David is preceded in death by his parents, Robert Shapland and Joanne Tekrony; grandson, Tan'an Shapland; father in law, Keith Richardson. David is survived by his wife of 41 years Robin Shapland; daughter, Katina (Charles) Archie and their children, Frederick and Lawrence; son, Matthew (Emily) Shapland and their children, Lorelai and Nathan; 3 brothers and their spouses; mother in law, Lorraine Richardson; brothers: Mark (Renae), Greg (Trish), and Mike (Terri); many other nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. Dave grew up in Ponca Hills in Omaha with his 3 brothers, who could always be found either playing sports, jumping on the trampoline, getting into trouble, or helping their dad fix or build things. His family also spent time in the summer at their cabin on Hanson lakes, which helped shape Dave’s love of the water. He lived on a lake or in a house with a pool for the majority of his adult life. When he wasn’t in the water at home, he was taking a trip to go spend time on the water elsewhere, where it was warm. Dave met his wife Robin at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. They weren’t immediately interested in one another, but that changed quickly and they were married in Fairbury, Nebraska in 1982. They shared an immeasurable number of adventures together, from fishing, biking, traveling, swimming, golfing, etc., but mostly he enjoyed spending time with family. After several years of marriage, Robin convinced Dave to have 2 kids; Katina and Matthew. They immediately became his world. He loved his children and made sure he taught them as much as he could, always making sure they helped with every project he worked on (which was a lot). He always took them water skiing, rafting, fishing, hunting, etc. Dave made sure they had everything they wanted and their family trip to Hawaii was a particular highlight for all of them. He was always a phone call away and wanted to make sure his kids (even as adults) knew he would help them no matter what, and he did. In 2008 Dave welcomed his first grandchild, Tan’an. Dave loved spending time with him and helped as much as he could up until Tan’an passed away in 2016. It was hard on him, but it wasn’t long before he had four more grandchildren. His favorite thing to do with them was to wrestle on the ground and play “row row row your boat” with them where Dave would invent all kinds of new problems the boat would have and perils kids would experience. He also took them fishing, ice fishing, swimming, hiking, and all other sorts of fun activities. Dave loved fishing and hunting as well and could often be found doing those activities with friends and family. “My Father didn’t tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.” He made sure to share his love of travel with his children. He loved annual trips to Devil’s Lake and Fort Peck where he could be found catching his limit of crappy. Dave took an annual trip to Platte with his son and sometimes friends and family. He also enjoyed showing his daughter the ropes in trips to New Orleans, the 5 National Parks in Utah and Devil’s Lake. She shared her love of hiking with him through these trips. He also loved hunting ducks, geese, turkey, doves, pheasants, and occasionally deer. Dave worked at Mutual of Omaha as a systems analyst for nearly 30 years. He loved his work due to his love of math and problem solving. He shared this with his son, whom he loved discussing programming with. He made many friends at Mutual, relationships he kept even after retiring from there in 2016. His friends frequently met with him for lunch, all the way up until his passing. Dave retired to help Robin with their daycare, a career change for both of them. Dave was Mr. Handyman, using all the skills he had learned in his life to fix anything and everything at the daycare. He also loved getting the groceries and taking them so that his helpers (the kids) could help “Mr. Dave!!!” unload everything and take it to the kitchen or office. Dave and Robin did everything together. Dave loved to travel and took Robin to too many places to list. They loved building homes together, renovating anything and everything in each place they lived together. They also shared a love for Husker football and could either be found tailgating in their “Huskerbago”, going to the game itself, or yelling at the TV on game day. Dave bled Husker red, even putting that on his license plate. Dave will be missed by many friends and family who love him. His memories will live on through them. Celebration of David's life will be held at a Later date