Daniel H. DeCelles, Sr.

Daniel Howard De Celles, Sr., 91, a devout Catholic and beloved husband and father, died from natural causes on Wednesday, May 18, at Fairfax Nursing Center. Born in Denver, CO, in 1925, he and his family spent the next 12 years moving around the U.S. and Mexico as his father, a pilot, accepted various assignments flying the mail for American and Mexican postal services. The family finally settled in Kansas City, MO, where he attended high school. During World War II, fresh out of high school, he joined the Marine Corps and served bravely as a bomber gunner in the South Pacific. After the war he returned to Kansas City, where he met and married his beloved Barbara Fritton. Working full-time in various positions with the federal government while attending night school at Rockhurst College and the Kansas City Art Institute, he and Barbara started their family which eventually grew to five children. After receiving his BFA in 1955 he moved the family to San Antonio, TX, where he worked as a cartographer with the Defense Mapping Agency. All the while he continued to pursue love of painting and sculpting, especially sculpting religious bas-reliefs in wood. In retirement he and Barbara moved to Northern Virginia in 2002, where, after almost 55 years of marriage, she preceded him in death in 2003. His dedicated his life to serving his wife and children, making great sacrifices to provide for their physical, emotional, educational, and (especially) spiritual needs. Above everything else, he shared with them his devout and intense faith in and love for Jesus Christ, His Catholic Church His Blessed Mother and the Eucharist, which was the center of his life and source of his great strength. He was very active in various parishes organizations and other Catholic apostolates and movements, attending daily Mass and Adoration when he was able, and praying the rosary daily. He was most recently a parishioner of Holy Spirit Catholic Church, in Annandale. He is survived by his 5 children, Daniel De Celles, Jr., of South Bend, IN, Judith Slabach of Mishawaka, IN, Timothy De Celles of Front Royal, VA, Barbette Brophy and Father John De Celles of Springfield, VA; 15 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren; and 2 brothers, Patrick DeCelles, of Atlanta, GA, and Paul DeCelles, of South Bend, IN. Arrangements under the direction of Murphy Falls Church Funeral Home, Falls Church, Virginia.