David Allan Norris , November 15, 1946 — January 15, 2019

OBITUARY David Allan NORRIS November 15, 1946 – January 15, 2019 David Allan Norris SURPRISE, ARIZ. —David Allan Norris, 72, passed away peacefully on Jan. 15, 2019, in Surprise, Ariz.

MEMORIAL SERVICE: 1 p.m. Friday, January 18, 2019, at the New Song United Methodist Church in Surprise. David was born in Garrett, Indiana, to Robert and Lily Norris on Nov. 15, 1946.

David graduated from Sturgis High School in 1964, and received his bachelor of music education from Vandercook College of Music in 1969. He took his first teaching position in Brownsville, Texas. He met and married Katherine McQueary after meeting each other at the First United Methodist Church in Mineral Wells, Texas.

They married in 1994. He was a faithful servant in the church throughout his life conducting the choir and bell choir at FUMC in Mineral Wells. David spent 45 years teaching students around Texas and later Arizona where they moved in 2005 to be closer to their grandchildren.

His love of music inspired many and he loved his students so much that he would push them to achieve the greatness he saw that they did not yet see for themselves. After his second retirement as a band director in Arizona, he continued to enjoy serving in the church as the choir director at New Song UMC in Surprise and playing trumpet with the Tempe Winds Symphony. He loved playing the National Anthem at various events and was hand-selected and called upon by spring training stadiums all over the Phoenix area.

David is well known for his love of the Dallas Cowboys, weekly “Fearless Dave” football picks, his coffee addiction and mug collection, taking epic road trips, visiting the mountains, tinkering with his camera on photo shoots and providing education as the authority on things in the wild earning him the nickname, Mr. Nature. David was preceded in death by his parents, Robert Norris and Lily Lambert; SURVIVORS: David is survived by his wife, Kathy; brother, Kent Norris (Shirley), sons, Robert A. Norris and Chad McQueary; daughters, Brandi Knippa (Matthew) and Susan Gladstein (Daryl); grandchildren, Savannah Knippa, Wyatt Knippa, Spencer Stout, Sydney Stout, Evelynn McQueary.

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