Chopper’s Story

Site created on August 24, 2019

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. 

Chopper has been diagnosed with Chronic Myelomonocytic Leukemia (CMML).  After three extensive periods in the hospital over the last several months, Chopper has now been moved into hospice care.

On Sunday, September 8th Chopper passed away surrounded by his family. 

Newest Update

Journal entry by matt freeman

Thank you to everyone who joined us in celebrating the life of Chopper Geske last weekend. It was beautiful to see over 250 of you join us on Friday evening and for the church to overflow with love on Saturday afternoon.

Below are the words I shared with the group gathered at St. John's for the service in honor of Chopper. I did my best to capture him and I hope I did him justice.

Matt Freeman


Who was Chopper?

Good Afternoon - I am Matt Freeman – Chopper’s son in law.

On behalf of the Geske family, I want to thank you all for joining us here today.  Throughout these challenging couple of months, there have been countless beautiful acts of support and love shared with Sue, Nicole and I, Neal & Allie, his brother Jerry & Diana, and the entire Geske family. Thank you.

Thank you Paster Brohn for presiding today. 

Thank you to our musicians for sharing with us your talent.

Thank you, honorary pallbearers, for what you meant to Chopper and what you mean to his family.

And I want to thank the Geske family for trusting me to say a couple of words about Chopper.

 

I have been proud to OFFICIALLY be a part of the Geske family since Nicole and I’s were married 2 years ago, but I know I have ACTUALLY been a part of the family since the first time I met Nicole’s parents up at their cabin on the 4th of July in 2010, when as a “is he a friend/is he a coworker/is he a boyfriend” , I was invited to spend Independence Day holiday with the Geske family in Villard. 

 

I am going to try to do something challenging today – to properly honor Chopper by sharing and defining, in community with you, who Chopper was– with and to an overflow room of people who have known him longer and spent more time with him than me.

I think the reason this is a daunting task gets to who Chopper was - a man who connected deeply with so many in his life, vastly different people from the various aspects of his life, in such a sincere way that you all remembered him, that he meant something profound to you, and that when you spent time with him you knew you were seen, respected, and loved by him.

 

Defining Chopper is hard because I feel he excelled and stood out in the intangibles. In the abstract things that are hard to define, to fit into a box or simple term, but which stick with you. Intangible things like love, respect, friendship, community, brotherhood, and companionship.

 

Maybe the difficulty in defining Chopper starts with his name – Everyone knew Duane as Chopper. In fact, the nickname was so central to him that Chopper is what is crochet on the Wittig family tree that hangs in Sue’s parent’s home.

Maybe that abstract sense of who is Chopper best manifest itself in his smile, which included his eyes lighting up whenever he greeted you  - He always seemed to greet me with a look implying he already knew the punchline to the joke I hadn’t yet told him.

Maybe it was tied into his laugh – for when he chuckled, he squinted his eyes while squishing up of his whole face - and if the laugh was inspired by a good enough joke or story - it included his mouth open and a jiggling and bouncing of his whole body in enjoyment.

Those of you who lived with him, went to school with him, who grew up with him, or who worked with him got to see that smile and that laughter often, as he was quick to greet you and genuine when he asked how the family and the kids were doing. It was a smile and laugh that carried through on the phone when spent countless hours checking in on his children, brother, friends as he sat in the garage.

 

Chopper wasn’t a material guy, he was someone who loved preparing food, loved the outdoors, loved his family.  He preferred holding court at the table in his garage, to a fancy dinner or getting dressed up.  Sure – he loved having a golf cart he could ride around in at the cabin, or a reliable minivan in which he could chauffer the whole family, or transport all his tools.  He appreciated a quality shotgun or having the right fishing lure to use when enjoying the outdoors.  And he respected a good boat he could ferry his wife around in at sunset. But Chopper cared about and respected the value of things that went beyond a book price or value. 

(Although, to be fair -he was thrifty and always sure to give you a call when there was a good deal on meat at Rainbow. Those 4 freezers in the garage didn’t fill themselves.)

The one material thing he did love over all else was the cabin in Villard.  But that wasn’t for the physical structure or value of the property – he love it because of why he bought it, what it represented, and what it facilitated- spending time with loved ones. Chopper originally bought the cabin to be a home base from which to spend more time fishing with his parents and grandparents.  He didn’t have all the money to buy it upfront, so he borrowed money from his mom & dad and worked himself to the bone to pay off every cent right on schedule. 

That cabin is loved and shared generously with friends and family as if the cabin were jointly owned by everyone. An old transplanted farmhouse, the cabin wouldn’t have had a porch or a garage without the gifts of skill, love and labor contributed by numerous friends and family.  Along that same vein, the dock wouldn’t have gone in this year, while Chopper was penned up in the hospital, or come back out again this fall, without folks lovingly stepping up to do it FOR Chopper.  Beautifully, while he struggled with his cancer this summer,  his friends - who knew how much that place meant to him -  showed their love and support by replacing old rotten windows and siding to ensure the cabin will stand sturdy and sound for years to come.

 

Maybe the mystery of Chopper stemmed from the plastic mug ever-present in his hand – usually with some brandy, water, ice, and a splash of coke in it.  That “Chopper Mug” was often affixed to his hand - whether at the cabin or hanging out in the garage.

 

However, my take is that the mystery of Chopper – the essence of Chopper – the Gift of Chopper-  was the LOVE he carried with him and shared so openly.

Love of Family was a central tenant of his life. Love of His wife of 36 years, Sue, his two children, his brother, his extended family.  He choked up, even in his final days, whenever he was thought about or talked about his mother and father. 

His Love of Friends was so deep that the line between family and friends always became blurred. The Keiths and Garys of the world were his brothers – They were family to him as well.

The Love of his Fellow Worker manifested in his work for and with his union – where he served on the executive board, fought for worker’s voice at the bargaining table, for safe working conditions, good wages and benefits so you could take care of your family. A pension so you could retire with dignity.  The union philosophy was a central value of Chopper - Where everything started with WE rather than I.

Chopper’s Love of his lord could be seen in years of volunteer contributions to his church – first Salem, then later St. Johns.

Chopper’s Love was often seen expressed through his chosen labor of love, the work he put into preparing sausage or jerky in the garage -  and the love expressed through his generosity  - as he constantly and selflessly doled out packages of meat to family and friends.  “Chopper hot dogs” are what ensured his grand nephews and niece ate their meals. Chopper Beef Sticks adorned the perfect Bloody Marys in dorm rooms or at brunches.  Chopper Jerky is thought of fondly even by neighborhood children who have since become vegetarians.

At his core, LOVE, to me, is what defined Chopper.

 

But I can’t help but fall back on an apt idiom to describe and define Chopper  -  Salt of the Earth. I think that phrase is particularly fitting for a butcher and meat cutter. That phrase is defined as “Those who are considered of Great Worth and Reliability.” “Representative of the Best or Nobelist Elements of society.”

That was Chopper. Salt of the Earth.

A simple, yet valuable element. Something that improves, preserves, adds flavor and value to those around him.

 

 

I, and I know many of you, are struggling with Chopper being taken from us much too early.  He won’t have the chance to tussle the hair of his grandchildren, or gracefully mature as the kind and gentle man we all loved. Chopper deserved to grow old – we are all diminished by his passing.

But the flipside of that is how much our lives have been enhanced by his presence while he was alive. So I am relying on you to join me in making sure Chopper’s love continues to carry on beyond his body’s time here on earth. His love will carry on through family, through the stories and laughs we will share, through the recipes, lessons, and tricks of the trade he has passed on.

One example of that essence of Chopper already being paid forward? Just like Evie and Louie showed Chopper the ropes at the Meat Locker in Milroy growing up;  this year Nicole delivered her closest girlfriends meat thermometers as house warming gifts.

That is how we define Chopper and honor him – by sharing that love forward. Thank you for helping make sure Chopper continues to live on through all of us.

 

 

 

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