![\"dan](\"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/files\/2010\/12\/dan-christopherson.jpg\" "\\"dan")
I\u2019ve known quite a few \u201ccharacters\u201d in my life but none could match the outrageous, funny, tough, sentimental, kind-hearted personality of my friend, Dan Christopherson who died nearly 4 years ago when that same big heart of his gave out at just 53.<\/p>\n
Dan was a huge guy. He must have stood 6\u20194\u201d.\u00a0 When I first met him he was pretty heavy too but after suffering a heart attack and being diagnosed with diabetes, he made up his mind to lose weight and did.\u00a0 Dan loved radio and had a perfect voice for it..deep and booming. Unfortunately for him, Dan wasn\u2019t the least bit hesitant about using that voice to say whatever was on his mind over the air. Listeners, for the most part, loved it but\u00a0 program directors not so much\u00a0.. which meant Dan kept bouncing from one station to another throughout his broadcasting career. He took all his terminations in stride..even joked about them… knowing another job would turn up.\u00a0 He also joked about his prosthetic leg after diabetes forced the amputation of his real one.\u00a0 He once said to me, \u201cDoug, this will be great if I ever join Alcoholics Anonymous because I\u2019ll only have to complete a \u201csix\u201d step program. Dan loved magic and would perform tricks anywhere anytime for any one. He was good at it too. He was also the perfect choice as stadium announcer for the Sioux Falls Canaries baseball team. And, if you ever needed someone to help with a fundraiser, well, Dan was your man.<\/p>\n
![\"dan's](\"http:\/\/blog.keloland.com\/lund\/files\/2010\/12\/dans-daughter.jpg\" "\\"dan's")
Then in the spring of 2005.. three days after walking his lovely daughter, Megan, down the aisle at her wedding, she was killed in a Colorado car crash.\u00a0 As unimaginably difficult\u00a0 as it would be to function following such a tragedy, Dan decided to put the best possible spin on it and, along with his wife, Dawn, started the \u201cMegan Fund for Children\u2019s Books\u201d in memory of their daughter; a second grade school teacher who loved reading. In collaboration with Barnes and Noble, The Megan Fund Book Fair was created in which a percentage of store sales for one day each year would be donated to the fund. \u00a0It\u2019s allowed them to purchase thousands of books and distribute them to classrooms all over the area.<\/p>\n
in 2007, when a friend needed a bone marrow transplant, Dan organized a \u201cBash for Cash\u201d at the El Riad Shrine. A fun night filled with music and frivolity. \u00a0It was a huge success and a big help toward his friend getting a transplant and beating his cancer.<\/p>\n
Dan Christopherson wasn\u2019t so lucky. Two weeks after the event, his finicky heart finally stopped beating. But even though he\u2019s gone, the Bash lives on as a tribute to Dan and his sense of giving.<\/p>\n
It will take place February 4th<\/sup>, at the Shrine Mosque downtown Sioux Falls and feature a night of nostalgia and rock and roll; Arlie\u2019s All Stars, The Apostles and the Roarin\u2019 Red Dogs will all appear on stage. Tickets are 20 dollars with all proceeds going to a 41 year old woman, Leigh Jerzak, who is in need of a bone marrow transplant.<\/p>\n Tickets will be available January 3rd. For ticket information call or stop by The El Riad Shrine office, 510 South Phillips, Sioux\u00a0Falls, SD 57104 (605)336-1117.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ah, Dan..I wish you were here to emcee the event and work your magic. But then again, I\u2019ve seen you do some pretty spectacular tricks before. Got one more up your sleeve? I’ll be checking behind the curtain and listening for that familiar thundering voice just in case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve known quite a few \u201ccharacters\u201d in my life but none could match the outrageous, funny, tough, sentimental, kind-hearted personality of my friend, Dan Christopherson who died nearly 4 years ago when that same big heart of his gave out at just 53. Dan was a huge guy. He must have stood 6\u20194\u201d.\u00a0 When I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lund-at-large","category-60","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=880"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11831,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/880\/revisions\/11831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jodystaples.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}