David Benjamin Kubisch passed away on August 8, 2021, in Huntsville, AL. His beloved wife Deby (nee’ Deborah Antoinette Ousley) was by his side along with other friends and family. David suffered a stroke on July 13 and although he fought hard to regain his health and strength, his injury eventually overwhelmed him.
David was born on February 13, 1949, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the first of four children of Jack and Connie Kubisch. He took great pride in his father’s navy service during World War II and successful career as a diplomat, culminating as US Ambassador to Greece and Vice President of the National Defense University. During the 1950s, Jack Kubisch took a hiatus from the Foreign Service and moved his family to a small town in Michigan. David loved reminiscing about that idyllic period in his childhood filled with younger siblings, cousins, baseball, puppies, home vegetable gardens, and loving family holidays.
By the time David was in high school, his father had rejoined the Foreign Service and so David attended The Loomis School in Connecticut as a boarding student. He then went on to complete his bachelor’s degree at George Washington University in Washington, DC.
As a child of the 1960s, David had a bit of the rebel in him. The family dinner table had spirited debates about the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, and the role of government and religion in American life. In his early twenties, David lived for two years on a 40-foot sailboat (the Te-Hongi II) and sailed throughout the Caribbean and Atlantic. He survived a life-threatening catastrophe when their boat lost its mast in the middle of a raging Atlantic storm and David successfully navigated the boat safely back to shore.
David was an excellent chef and found his way to a successful career in restaurant management and the restaurant supply business, where he was able to blend his passion for food with his business sense and sales expertise. His career was largely in the mid-Atlantic and southern regions. David and Deby lived in Washington DC, Virginia, Ohio, and Tennessee. They retired and moved to Owens Cross Roads outside of Huntsville, AL, where they created a beautiful home and were welcomed by new friends and a new church community.
David was a natural athlete. He was tall and strong (and handsome too!). In high school he was a three-sport star and over time he developed a passion for golf. He was proud of his single-digit (and sometimes even scratch) handicap, and loved playing golf anywhere, at any time, on any course, and with anyone. He found many metaphors about life in the game of golf, particularly about how golf is a constant exercise in self-improvement at the physical, intellectual, and philosophical levels.
David was always intellectually and spiritually curious. As an adult, he became deeply motivated to find a religious home for himself. He explored various religions and studied scriptures. His deep Christian faith became central to his life, and he was blessed to share his spiritual journey with his precious wife, Deby. His profound relationship with Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, guided David’s view of existence and purpose. He was deeply grateful for God’s grace and freely proclaimed it. Despite the sorrow of his passing, David and Deby know he has been called Home to the loving arms of God.
David and Deby had one son, Kyle Christopher (born in 1983), who died tragically in January, 2021. They have one grandchild, Isabella, age 13, who lives in Ohio. He has three loving younger siblings: John Christopher, Anne Christine, and Joan Elizabeth who remember him for his huge heart and for how protective he always was of them in his role as oldest brother. He is also survived by many in-laws, nieces, and nephews, and friends in all corners.
As David leaves this life, his family will remember him for how strongly he loved: he loved his parents, his siblings, his son, his granddaughter, his friends, and most of all his dear wife and life partner, Deby. And, in the end, he can rest in peace because he also found a beautiful path to a loving God.
