Community, Family, Friends, and Firefighters honor fallen Valparaiso Fire Chief, David Nondorf, at Funeral

Friends, family, community members, and firefighters from all around the area came together Saturday to honor the life of a beloved friend, firefighter, and father who passed away earlier in the week: Chief David Nondorf.

The service, which was held at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Valparaiso, paid tribute to a man who, to all who knew him, say always kept fighting for friends, family, and the community he loved so dearly.

To view more photos from the services of Chief David Nondorf, click here.

“My dad never quit fighting,” Nondorf’s daughter, Maddie, said at the service. “No matter how hard things got he never gave up, and that says a lot about a person. It’s not everyday we can all come together and celebrate a life as wonderful as my dad. Thank you for being my rock, and thank you for being beautiful.”

Mark Nondorf, younger brother of David, remembered David as everything one could ask for in an older brother.

“David was the coolest big brother,” Mark said at the service. “He would jump on our parents’ bed with us, and he would play football and baseball with us.”

“But most importantly,” Mark said, “He talked my parents into letting us skip school to watch the opening Cubs game.”

In the younger Nondorf's eyes David was a lot of things to a lot of people, but it was everything he was, all those unique characteristics in him, that made him so loved and respected with his family and the community.

“Intelligence, conviction, humility, and commitment to family,” Nondorf said about his brother’s defining characteristics. “David was a lot of things.”

“We love him,” said Mark at the end of the eulogy. “We love him.”

The love was certainly there this day. And the legacy of what he built in the community, as evidenced by the hundreds of people that came out to honor such a great man, will certainly live on.

David Nondorf is survived by his wife, Kristy, and his three kids, Nicholas, Zachary, and Madison.