David Walter TeStrake

After a courageous battle with cancer, David TeStrake of Bon Air, Virginia passed away on Monday, July 19, 2021. Dave was born on October 16, 1961 in Richmond, Virginia to Walter and Carolyn TeStrake. He was raised in Chesterfield but spent several of his teen years in the Philippines due to his father’s job. He returned to attend Midlothian High School where he graduated in 1980. He went on to attend Virginia Tech where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity and graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in business finance. He worked for Bank of America for 26 years. There, he met the love of his life, Bonnie, and married on April 12, 1997. Together, they raised their two children, Anne and Ben. Although Dave was employed in the banking industry, drove his kids and black labrador around in a minivan, and continued to wear his favorite 80’s duct-taped patched up leather jacket until his last days, his conservative veneer belied a hidden daredevil who lived for runs down black diamond slopes in Vail, soaring over moguls at Wintergreen, and racing across waves in the Chesapeake Bay in the “Minnow”. He spent numerous Friday nights gathering around with friends at the local pool where he would occasionally cause a commotion among lifeguards, children, and families with his famous high-dive super splashes. During the summer months, he would drive his wife and children to Kings Dominion to be the first in line for the coasters. Skipping restaurants and other park attractions, Dave’s main mission was to ride as many coasters as many times as he could in a single visit, with or without his kids trailing behind. Dave found great joy in time spent with family and friends from high school, college, dinner club, and the neighborhood. He was especially fond of gathering by the James River, around a fire pit, or at a Hokies tailgate. He savored a good story and could tell them too. He avidly watched and discussed team sports and coached his son’s tee-ball and flag football teams. Holidays were important to Dave too as he would spend Halloween dressed from head to toe in an all-black attire in efforts to get a scare from the neighborhood kids and he spent the entirety of the Fourth of July setting up his fireworks and lighting them off for the neighborhood. Dave will remain in the hearts of so many. He is survived by his parents Walter and Carolyn (Traxler), his stepmother, Phyllis, his wife Bonnie (Norman), his brother Stephen, and his two children Anne and Ben. A funeral service will be held on Sunday, September 12, 2021, at the Woody Funeral Home, 1020 Huguenot Road, at two o’clock p.m. A celebration of Dave’s life will take place immediately following at Tarrington Clubhouse at 3500 Ashwell Drive, Midlothian, VA 23113. Many thanks to the kind-hearted nurses and doctors at Virginia Cancer Institute for their treatments and encouragement, and to Dave’s friends and family for all the years of love and laughter. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the James River Association.