November 14, 1934 – April 1, 2025

David Lee Roper was born Wednesday morning, November 14th, 1934 (during the Great Depression) in Goodwell, Oklahoma (in the middle of the Dust Bowl) to Dave H. and Lillian Roper. His younger brother and lifelong best friend, Coy was born two years later.

David met Jo Annette Tibbles in the summer of 1951 at church in Moore, Oklahoma. David describes their first encounter: “I was at the back of the classroom and made some ‘smart’ remark and a girl at the front of the classroom turned around and smiled. I’ve always been a sucker for beautiful smiles.”  They were married  June 11, 1954, in Moore. 

Attending Abilene Christian College, he earned a BS in Bible. (It should be noted that after he was reunited with Jo his sophomore year, his grades greatly improved.) Later on he completed an MS degree at ACU.

He gave his first sermon at the age of eighteen, then held fulltime preaching positions in the U.S. at the following churches of Christ: The Village in Oklahoma City; Westside in Muskogee, Oklahoma; Eastside in Midwest City, Oklahoma; Brown Trail in Fort Worth, Texas; Central in Cleburne, Texas. During his time in Fort Worth, he hosted “The Truth in Love” television program.

As missionaries in Sydney, Australia, from 1968 to 1977, David, Coy and families helped establish the Macquarie church of Christ and the Macquarie School of Biblical Studies. 

David was a prolific writer. He published numerous Christian tracts, books, and booklets, including The Day Christ Came (Again). David served as an associate editor and writer for Truth for Today World Mission School, in Searcy, Arkansas, publishing multiple commentaries and magazine issues.

He had a special love for writing for children. Over fifty of his stories, poems, and articles have appeared in “Highlights for Children,” and other children’s publications. His numerous, beloved children’s books include The Little Old Man, the Little Old Woman, and the Little Red Hen.

David was a great mentor of other writers, including his friend, 10 year-old Kate Domina whose original play performance he watched from his hospital bed in March.

David was an award-winning comic magician and member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians for many years. He published several books on the subject, including The Comedy Magic Textbook.

He will be sorely missed by his daughters and their families: Cindy and Richard Honaker, Debbie Roper and Steve Shepherd, and Dan and Angi Lovejoy. He was a doting “Poppy” to grandchildren and their families: David and Olivia, Rachel and Patrick, Elijah and Charlie,  Kloe, Leo, and great-grandchildren Freya and Ava Jo. He is also survived by his sweet sister-in-law, Darlene Tibbles. He will be fondly remembered as a loving, fun, God-fearing uncle and great-uncle by the Roper and Tibbles branches.

In addition, Bucky (the infamous beagle) already misses him greatly. One of David’s last books was The Old Man and the Dog, recounting how Bucky helped him through his grief from Jo’s death.

David was preceded in death by his beloved Jo, parents Dave H. and Lillian Roper, brother and sister-in-law Coy and Sharlotte Roper, as well as cherished extended family: William Keith “Junior” Tibbles, Eunice Tidwell, Margaret Simpson, and Thomas Neal “Bud” Tibbles.

Donations in David’s memory may be made to Truth for Today World Mission School.

Thank you for your support and love.

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens.
  – Ecclesiastes 3:1

David passed from this life this morning, Tuesday April 1, peacefully at home in his sleep at age 90. We are shocked at the speed of his decline, but grateful his suffering is ended. 

On Sunday, David had a visit from his dear friends James and Martha Branum from Newcastle Heights church of Christ. David preached a five-minute sermon from his bed, which allowed him to tick off one last bucket-list aspiration – preach a sermon in his 90s. 

Yesterday, it was obvious that his health had declined dramatically overnight. He was no longer talking coherently and indicated very little understanding of what we were saying. He did say, “I love you” to Angi. 

We know that David knew he was deeply loved at the end. 

What can we say about David? Not enough in this short post. He was a believer in Jesus, first. He’d want you to know – baptized by immersion for the remission of sins.

He was a 99.9999th percentile father and father-in-law. He was an adored and adorable Poppy. He was a devoted, generous, and kind son and brother. 

He was driven – he was always working, even after he kept retiring. He was a missionary, a gifted preacher and a talented and prolific writer. His sermons have been stolen by some of the most famous preachers in our fellowship. He was a mentor, a magician, and a comedian.

 

Niece DeeAnn, Coy, David, and sister-in-law (Coy’s wife) Sharlotte

He was dearly loved and his absence cuts us deeply. We put our hope in the resurrection and being reunited with him someday. 

I’m going to continue publishing tributes to David here. There is so much more to say. 

We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.Who is to condemn? It is Christ who died, or rather, who was raised, who is also at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? 

As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
    we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than victorious through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8: 28 – 39

I’m sharing here a few of the comments folks have shared about David. These are just a few of the reasons he is so precious to us. I’ll share a few of these at a time.

Steve and Kelli Lehrmann

We have such fond memories of you and Jo, when you ministered us at the Central church in Cleburne. You taught our young married Sunday School class and were such a wise and knowledgeable guide. Steve was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and was really struggling with it. I called and you and Jo came right over to encourage him. We will be praying for you and your family. May God bless you for being such a faithful servant of his.

Kim Gately

David, you don’t know me, but I know you. When I was a young girl, each week as I attended services at Eastside, I would pause and study your family photo that hung on the wall, with dreamy thoughts of the adventurous and mysterious life of missionaries living in Australia! In my nightly prayers, I prayed for your family alongside “God bless mom, dad, aunts, uncles, the neighbors dog, etc.” I know the Lord heard those innocent prayers and your family is evidence that He certainly blessed you in this life and as you changed the lives of countless people.

Rhonda Roberts

David, you are such a blessing to me. I would never have had the guts to submit my writing for contests or publication if it hadn’t been for your encouragement. Thanks to you I have won several contests through the years and am in the process of publishing a middle grade novel I’ve been working on for at least a decade. The White County Creative Writers is a thriving, vibrant, growing group that wouldn’t even exist if it hadn’t been for you. You have given so much of yourself to others through the years. You are a mentor, a wonderful encourager, and most of all a tremendous Christian example to everyone you meet. Thank you for all you’ve done for me.

There is a surreality to this kind of waiting and watching. David is ready to go, but it seems his body is not. There are no good decisions, no good outcomes – just less bad ones. 

I didn’t see David today, but Angi tells me that there were a lot of jokes about his funeral. She said he is a comedian and his personality is really coming out. He suggested, for example, that Leo get up at the very end of the funeral and tell a joke. And that his funeral should have an emcee. These sound like good ideas to me, but I don’t think the daughters will go for it. 

Angi hasn’t been feeling well, but she felt well enough today to go over to see David. She spent the whole day there, so I spent the whole day working from home. 

Today they transferred David to the hospital bed. He wasn’t very happy about it, but he accepted it. (And laughed when I told him it was coming. “This isn’t the first battle I’ve lost”) It had become too difficult for us to take care of him in his lovely full size bed. The hospital bed was delivered comically fast. Debbie ordered it, then the delivery guy called shorty thereafter, telling us it would be delivered in twelve minutes. Our 21yo son Elijah went over today after school and helped take the old bed apart. 

When David was first diagnosed, I dived into the research and found some metrics that would give us an idea of how long he might survive. The first instrument I found was the LENT score, which indicated a 44-day median survival time after diagnosis in David’s case. We didn’t have all of the lab tests for the other scoring instruments, but with what we had, they predicted longer survival times. Today someone in the know told him two to four weeks. (Or two to three, depending on who you ask.)

The kids have school, soccer practice, and games. Elijah has school and work, and figuring out how to see his girlfriend who goes to OSU. Rachel lives in Chicago, but will coming in next week. Richard and I have work from 8 to 5 every day. Angi teaches English on Mondays and Wednesdays. We all have to juggle life. I feel like pulling on the non-existent emergency brake and yelling “Don’t you know this is an emergency?!” But the world keeps turning. 

The upside, if there is one, is that David’s three girls are seeing him almost every day, and they are spending a lot of time together. It’s a terrible time, but it is also a holy time. 

I would encourage you to continue to pray for David and those who are caring for him. We are there as much as we can, but Richard and Cindy are there overnight every night and almost all the time during the days. They are working so hard. Thankfully Debbie is staying there now and can help them. 

Please leave a comment here for David to read. I print out every one for him and he does read them. 

Love,
Dan

David is very tired and frustrated he can’t walk very well, but there is no significant update to his condition.

You may not know that David is a huge fan of OU Women’s Basketball. Yesterday, he informed Cindy that the big TV in the living room was reserved. He spent the afternoon with Debbie watching the OU Women whup the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles . And last night, he recounted to Angi in great detail the story he has outlined, but not yet written, about a female basketball player. (It’s a romance!)

He really wanted to attend Eastside’s “Friends and Family” day today, but he wasn’t feeling up to it.

Angi and I (Dan) spent the afternoon at the Honakers with David, Cindy, Richard, and Debbie. David rested in his room, but we all got to spend time with him throughout the afternoon. I also handled some correspondence for David.

I printed out several of David’s emails for him and he was able to read them. I just printed out your comments for him, so he can read them the next time he feels up to it.

and what “here” looks like today

On March 8, Cindy took David to his doctor; he was immediately hospitalized at St. Anthony. He had been struggling with flu, then pneumonia for a couple weeks.

A CT scan revealed he had a large pleural effusion, which is a buildup of fluid between the lung and its lining. It also revealed that this fluid buildup was probably caused by tumors on the pleura.

When they removed the fluid, they could tell from the cell testing that the tumors had spread from a malignancy in David’s lung. The diagnosis is metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung with malignant pleural effusion. (pdf) It sounds nasty because it is.

At 90, David is not a good candidate for chemotherapy. It would only make him more uncomfortable. So he is at home now at Cindy’s house, resting most of the day. He is currently receiving hospice care and is relatively comfortable, but quite tired.

Debbie has come from Australia, and Angi lives in Edmond with her family, so all three girls are with him most days.

The good that is coming from this:
David is eating a lot of chocolate. He and Jo were always the best patients any doctor could ask for. So when the doctor told him “no chocolate,” he took it as gospel. He hasn’t had chocolate in years. But every day since his diagnosis, he has been enjoying a little chocolate. Today for supper he had a bowl of chocolate ice cream.

He’s spending a lot of time with his daughters and other family. Debbie is staying at Cindy’s house, so they are seeing him every day. Elijah and Charlie, his girlfriend, came over this evening and spent a couple hours. And most of the family has been together for supper for the last three days.

David is not currently checking email, but if you would like to leave a comment here, we will be glad to read it to him.