David Luben Heller of Morrisville, died on May 24, 2020, David was 93 years old. Dave was preceded in death by his parents, George and Dorothy of Englewood Cliffs, NJ, his wife Iva Dean (McBroom) Heller, his eldest daughter Nancy Lynn (Heller) Klym, and a grandson Timothy David Klym and his beloved long time friend, neighbor and assistant, Elizabeth Schatz.
He was a man of many skills and talents. He gained his education as an electrical engineer through his Navy training. Following that, he worked for a time for Audubon Labs of NJ, making improvements to Navy radar & radio systems. For a brief time, he lived in Fort Worth, TX, living in a boarding house while he worked for the state electric co-op running (then new) power systems into rural areas of Texas. This is where he met his wife, Iva, at an area church, after his land lady insisted while he was living under her roof he had to attend church.
At some point he partnered at a manufacturing plant creating “freeze proof” (non temperature effected) “gas meters with remote reading (a patient of his) to replace the no longer standard/deemed unsafe” in basement” systems. He also served as a loss adjustments agent for an insurance company, an “electrical engineer on consignment”, an SR-22 “High Risk Policy insurance agent” and for the state of PA providing state vehicle inspection stickers to area automotive centers & licensing & tagging vehicles to area car dealerships & private citizens. He also free lanced at times as a home inspector. Above all that, his most loved job was as a professor at the former North Eastern Christian Junior College at Villa Nova, PA, where he taught mathematics, calculus and engineering. Even today, his students remember him most for his habitual lunch of onion sandwiches.
His hobbies included ever tinkering on and maintaining his collection of ’65 Olds Sedans and wagons, stamp and license plate collecting from around the globe. Dave was an avid ham radio operator, “Elmer” and hamfest enthusiast as a member of the local Penn Wireless Association. He was also an avid collector of books, media, furniture, machinery, electronics and who knows what else. His motto was, “Every other man’s junk is my treasure”.
Despite his always thin build, he was certainly never a health nut. His favorite food groups were breads, cookies, cakes, donuts & chocolate milk. For decades his “drug supplier” was Brodabecks Bakery, who gave him unlimited baked goods in exchange for David paying their business insurance. Dave definitely got the sweeter end of that deal.
He is survived by his daughter, Dorothy Susan (Heller) (Jerald ) Hill of Jonesboro, Arkansas a grandson, Nathaniel Edward Klym of Springfield, Missouri, several long time friends (Johnny, Tom, Ralph, and Rich), and of course his favorite and smartest cat, Tipsy.
