Obituary: David 'Choc' Junker, former Stillwater mayor

After all the ways he gave back to Stillwater over the years — as mayor, public works director, school board member — David "Choc" Junker's loved ones keep coming back to one very special memory: summer Sunday evenings.

That's when the neighborhood kids, spying Junker's pickup pulling up in front of his home, would hustle over, climb in the back and hitch a ride to Nelson's for some ice cream.

Choc's treat.

"When they saw the pickup truck coming, they all came running," said Bev Junker, his wife of 60 years.

"Every Sunday night," said Steve Junker, of Hudson, Wis., one of three sons and two daughters.

"Every kid would get a cone from Choc," said Dave Junker, of Stillwater, another son.

Junker died around 2 a.m. Sunday at Lakeview Hospital in Stillwater of complications related to pneumonia.

Family lore abounds about Junker's nickname. One story has it that he fell while carrying chocolate ice cream near the ball fields as a kid and found himself covered with it. "Somebody said, 'Look at that, the Chocolate Kid,' " Bev Junker said. "The name stuck." Others say he simply loved chocolate ice cream.

Born and raised in Stillwater, Junker came from a family of nine children. So it made sense, his wife said, that kids would be at the center of his life — as a neighbor, school board member and employer who hired local teens to work at his company, Junker Landscaping.

Steve Junker was one of them. "It was tough working for him," he said. "You know why? He would always outwork us. Any job that someone offered — tearing down homes, blacktopping a driveway, laying sod — he would take."

Junker was said to be the kind of mayor who would shovel sand on an icy patch of street, or meet with a constituent at night who wanted to bend his ear. As public works director, Dave Junker said, "He knew every street, every house, every sewer line."

"He was so busy. He did everything," Bev Junker said. "That was OK. When you're married to one of them, that's what you do."

Steve Junker said his dad always had time for his kids — taking Steve, then a high school pitcher, to play catch. He also wasn't afraid to toss his kids the keys to his pickup as they began to learn to drive.

"He gave us freedom. I never had a curfew. If I needed a five [dollar bill], he gave me a five," Steve said.

Over the years he collected things, Steve joked, and he had a hard time getting rid of stuff. In his garage remain items from a hardware store that went out of business years ago.

"He could never throw anything away," Steve said.

Dave Junker, a former Stillwater City Council member, said the family has been overwhelmed this week with stories from people all over town.

In addition to his wife and sons Dave and Steve, Junker is survived by his son, Scott, of Stillwater; two daughters, Heidi Junker of Hudson, and Michelle Nokk of Chisago City; nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held.