David Harper Friedlein

David Harper Friedlein passed away on April 21, in the home and surrounded by the family he so loved and cherished. His death followed complications from a brief respiratory illness. Dave built an active and compassionate 84-year life around caring for family, loving faithful pets, and pursuing five-string banjo, Maryland crabs, Duke University sports, and antique automobiles.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland and raised in nearby suburbs, he attended local schools, walked a daily newspaper route, and joined the Boy Scouts, achieving the rank of Eagle. Following graduation from Catonsville Senior High School, Dave relocated to Durham, NC, to attend Duke University. He worked his way through, pushing a chow man cart, delivering laundry, and operating a three-wheeled ice cream motorcycle. He also worked on Peer, the Duke humor magazine, where he conceived and drew a cartoon character he named Rube.

Following graduation in 1965, he worked initially as a skills counselor at the Duke-affiliated Education Improvement Program, beginning a 40-year career working with challenged child populations not well-served by the public school system. He earned a Masters of Education degree from Duke in 1971 while at the Wright School Re-ED program for emotionally disturbed children. He relocated to his native Maryland to spend six years as executive director of the German Children’s Home in Catonsville. In 1978, he returned to North Carolina to settle his family of five in a stone farmhouse in rural eastern Durham County where he became active in the Lynn’s Crossroads Ruritan Club. The family joined Benson Memorial United Methodist Church in Raleigh. Dave called himself a house-husband and, for five years while his three children grew to school age, he collected and processed pollens for pharmaceutical applications. In 1983, he returned to fulltime work as a teacher/counselor at the Whitaker School in Butner, NC, later serving as assistant director for administration and curriculum coordinator, and retiring in 1998. The American Re-EDucation Association named him Teacher/Counselor of the Year in 1991.

Dave was the son of the late Francis and Miriam Friedlein. He is survived by his wife, Virginia (Ginger) Shackford Friedlein; sons Darren (and wife Michele) and Jeremy (and wife Shawyen) Friedlein, daughter Heidi (and husband John) Hart, six grandchildren: Grant and Spencer Friedlein, Oscar and Dawn Friedlein, and Casey and Avery Hart; sisters Carol Anne Schelz, Stephanie Snyder, Marcia Chalfant; and brother, Ken Friedlein. He was the proud uncle to seven nieces and nephews.

A reception for family and friends will begin at 1 p.m. Friday at Benson Memorial United Methodist Church in Raleigh, followed by a celebration of Dave’s life at 2 p.m. Burial will be Saturday at 3 p.m. at Garrett-Hillcrest Cemetery in Waynesville, NC.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations in Dave’s memory be made to the BSA Occoneechee Council, 3231 Atlantic Ave., Raleigh, NC 27604 (note Scoutreach Endowment on the check memo, or go to https://www.ocscouts.org/donate), or to Benson Memorial United Methodist Church, 4706 Creedmoor Rd, Raleigh, NC 27612.