David J. Amborn

David John Amborn, 68, West Salem passed away unexpectedly at his home on Valentine’s Day, Sunday February 14, 2021.

He was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin on September 25, 1952, to Elmer and Ruth Ann (Ikert) Amborn.

David grew up in his much-loved Bangor, Wisconsin with a passion for giving which developed into a life of service to others. He often told the story how his first memory of contributing to his community was handing out poppies for the American Legion Auxiliary with his grandmother. After graduating from Bangor high school, David went on the obtain a degree in social work from La Crosse State University. He then pursued work locally, in Houston, TX as well as Gillette, WY. But Bangor was always home so he returned to Wisconsin working in a variety of different paths until he found the job he loved.

David began his career at Gundersen Health System in 1988 when he joined Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMNH) as Telethon Coordinator. Over the next four years, he would change the landscape of fundraising for CMNH that would position it for success year after year for the following two decades. In 1992, he accepted the role of Executive Director for Lutheran Hospital Foundation. In 1988, Lutheran Hospital Foundation and Gundersen Medical Foundation merged to form Gundersen Lutheran Foundation. David was very instrumental in building the strategic business plan that would bring the two entities together. In this new structure, David became Director of Operations and ran the day-to-day operations of the Development Department and spearheaded the community outreach arm of its mission. As the Foundation’s commitment to supporting community health initiatives and David’s intense passion and in-depth community involvement grew, he then became the Foundation’s Director of Community Engagement and worked in that capacity until his retirement in 2016. He was a smart guy and wore many hats during his tenure at Gundersen. He often served as creator, producer, singer and actor with the “Heritage Players” during the annual Heritage Society Donor Recognition event. He was a man of many talents!

In addition to his work at Gundersen, David was embedded in other service to the community. He currently was serving on a number of boards and committees for local organizations and never planned on stepping away from involvement because it kept him connected to the work he loved and the many friends he had made over his lifetime of giving.

David began his adventure with his life partner Karen (Bina-Gilster) on Halloween 2003. From the beginning he was fascinated that she had a job with similarities to his - event planning. He also loved that she lived on County B and that he too had grown up on County B. The fact that Karen had 5 hens and 3 ducks was something he never stopped talking about because his grandfather raised chickens and sold eggs during David’s childhood. When David and Karen combined households a few months after they met, he fondly referred to Karen as “the country mouse” and he, “the city mouse”.

For 17 ½ years they were happy enjoying their working lives while attending events and meeting the people of this area. After his retirement, David went on business trips with Karen all over Wisconsin and from coast to coast in the United States. He learned how to be adventuresome and saw lots of new things traveling the backroads. David took Karen to Las Vegas for the very first time the first year they were together. After his retirement, they scheduled Vegas trips twice a year. He loved Vegas!

His list of loves was long. Besides his career, he looked forward to his annual fishing trip up North with his brother, Paul, and nephews, Cole and Cade. It was the only time his boat left the driveway to get put in the water but it was one of the best weeks of his year! He adored his niece, Heather, and nephews, Cole and Cade. He was so proud as he watched Heather grow into a beautiful smart woman, marry and start her family. When Heather got a job at UW-Madison and organized fundraising events for charity, he was beyond excited. David took special interest in watching Cole graduate from college in plastics engineering. He told everyone he met about how Cole was successfully heading up an effort to design and manufacture components for Covid testing. Recently, David had traveled with Karen, his brother and wife, Sheri, to follow Cade’s track career with UW-Madison. Although the trips to watch in-person had stopped out of caution, he continued to follow every meet online and was so looking forward to Covid lifting so he could cheer Cade on again in person.

David was an excellent carpenter and fixer. If you put something on his desk or workbench, you could count on it being fixed in less than a day. David increased the chicken “flock” to 25 hens and provided eggs to friends and for fundraisers. He regularly offered area non-profits with themed raffle baskets “Win a Hen for a Year” and whoever won would get a dozen eggs a month delivered to them for the entire year.   He loved to play online poker for nickels and dimes and was so excited about his new poker group that formed after he retired. Unfortunately, this had to be put on “hold” due to Covid but recent conversations with the guys about starting again was in the works. David was a huge fan of hockey as all three of Karen’s boys had played. He closely followed the hockey career of Anders Lee, the grandson of Dr. Mark and Jean Connelly, former chair of the Medical Foundation. Anders played for the NY Islanders and David and Karen traveled to games in New York City and Minneapolis to watch him compete.

Karen is the oldest of 10 children and with siblings, spouses, nieces and nephews her immediate family is approaching 90 people. David lovingly joked that “When the Amborns got together you could put them around a card table but when the Binas got together, they had to rent a hall.” He loved getting together with them at Karen’s sister and brother-in-law’s restaurant, Westview Inn. He called it “Ground zero for the Bina clan”! Recently David and Karen hosted their siblings (one group at a time) at their condo in Vegas which resulted in some pretty memorable stories full of laughter, fun and even some secrets! (What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas)!

David embraced family life and jumped into Karen’s son’s and daughter-in-law’s lives with both feet. He took interest in everything Norman and Chelsea, Ethan and Andy did. From long discussions about their interests or following their life passions, the relationship with them took David from band practices, concerts, hockey and soccer games all over the state, 4-H and the La Crosse fair, school activities, counseling and encouraging them, camping and campfires in the backyard, traveling, a foreign exchange student, the birth of a granddaughter, their jobs, their hobbies….David was always “all in”! He regularly told them all how much he admired their growth and always encouraged them to be their best!

The apple of David’s eye for almost 5 years was his granddaughter Hazel. With the onset of Covid, Hazel spent considerable time with Papa David and Grandma Karen at their house. When 4K went virtual, David set her up at the computer in his home office and did the 30-minute sessions with her. She often sat on his lap in his easy chair and played farm, or shopping, grocery store or whatever her creative mind came up with.

David is survived by his life partner of 17 plus years, Karen (Bina) Gilster and her sons, Norman and Chelsea (Gaulke) Gilster, parents of Hazel of West Salem, Ethan Sobkowiak of La Crosse, and Andrew Sobkowiak and Julia (Callaghan) of West Salem; David’s mother, Ruth Ann of La Crosse; his brother, Paul and Sheri (Torgerud) Amborn of Bangor; niece, Heather (Amborn) and Scott Garrison and their children, Noah and Caleb, of Fitchburg; nephews, Cole Amborn of Middleton and Cade Amborn of Madison; two aunts, Doris (Leo) Mashak of Bangor and Marilyn (Paul) Hemker of Onalaska; Karen’s parents, Don and Elaine (Wuensch) Bina of St. Joseph Ridge; plus the huge Bina family, way too numerous to list but all deeply loved by David.

David was preceded in death by his father, Elmer; an infant brother, Tommy; his uncles, Roy Amborn, Leo Mashak and Paul Hemker; and his maternal and paternal grandparents.

A Celebration of Life will be held later this spring as we continue to pray for the Covid threat to diminish. Memorials can be given to one of the many organizations David loved: Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals c/o Gundersen Medical Foundation, Rotary Works Foundation-Downtown Rotary of La Crosse, The Parenting Place of La Crosse, The Children’s Museum of La Crosse, The La Crosse Community Theatre, Coulee Council on Addictions of La Crosse or the Bangor Scholarship Foundation.

The family sends a warm thank you to the West Salem First Responders-Duane Kneifl, Tri-State Ambulance, the La Crosse County Medical Examiner team and the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Department who were all kind beyond words. Arick Hendrickson of Schumacher-Kish, a dear friend for his guidance and compassion. The family is sincerely in awe and grateful for all of the cards, calls, messages, food and compassion from the community, friends and family.

“The way through sorrow and grief, is to find purpose!” David’s life of service will help guide us all to find “Purpose” in finding the best in everyone while caring for those who can’t always care for themselves. And David will say, “Good work!”