Obituary of Daryl Garland Oliver

Daryl Garland Oliver was born on December 23, 1960, in Bitburg, Germany to Otis and Leta Oliver. As a child, he was very loving, very easy to raise, and only cried when he was wet or hungry. He couldn’t stand to be wet, and he was hungry all the time! He was long and grew fast. After he was 4 months old, each night his mom measured him from his hip to his ankle bone. Some nights he would grow 1/2 inch. Babies only grow at night. He grew fast. Daryl had tons of blocks and toys, and a favorite rocking chair. He loved writing on a big black board that his mom put on the wall behind his playpen. He would move all his toys around and he would cuddle with a big yellow bear. The only way she knew he was awake; he was screeching on the blackboard. He would put his tablecloth under his highchair. Then his mom would put the highchair on top of it. He was so cute. He was such a cute little boy. In his free time, he enjoyed playing foosball. He also tried to play the saxophone but when he got to the third note while playing Joy to the World, he would get too excited. He always loved music even from a little boy. In his teenage years, Daryl and his friends would rebuild cars. He bought his first car with 800 quarters that he had saved. He had music in the back of it. All his tips he had when he delivered pizzas he saved. He then saw the car of his dreams and asked the owner if he would save it for him. He gave the man the 800 quarters and the man asked him to go to the bank to get dollar bills. He said to Daryl, he would save the car for him. Daryl saved his money to buy the car before he had a license to drive it. They had so much fun rebuilding the engine and restoring the inside. He even took the backseats out of the back and put a stereo system in the back so only two people could ride in the car. Daryl received his high school education from William C. Hinkley High School in Aurora, Colorado. Daryl Studied Speech Pathology, Audiology & Child Development at University of Northern Colorado and graduated in 1983. Once he graduated, Daryl joined Rainbow Bakery. He was employed there for a long time and worked up to management. Daryl could tell the owner about Rainbow bakery down to the penny and how much money they lost in a day. When they sold rainbow to Sara Lee, they all quit, 15 of them, they all worked with him. They didn’t want to work for anyone else except Daryl. At the time of his passing, Daryl was an Associate Broker at Weichert Realtors Professionals. He worked in real estate for 30 years. He was a member of Mount Nebo Baptist Church in Omaha, Nebraska and he was baptized as a child there. As an adult, he was Baptized again and joined the Heritage Christian Center in Aurora, CO under the pastorship of Rev. Dennis Leonard. When they baptized Daryl, they said “It took 4 of them to put him under the water, and 5 of them and Jesus to get him out of it. “ Daryl mentored over 7,000 young men in his lifetime. His mentoring started with high school students. Then his students’ siblings wanted to have his mentoring. He taught them to do chores, sweep the floor, help at home, and do their homework. Even 3-year-old siblings came to his classes. They would hang onto him since he was such a big teddy bear. There Sheriff Department loved him. The Police Department loved him. He would take the kids to the dentist to fix their teeth and the kids could also go to the barbershop to get a haircut. Each profession would teach the kids how to take care of themselves. He had so many vocations he partnered with, to come and speak to the children on how to grow up to find the line of vocation that they would want to go into in life. Different restaurants would donate pizzas, ice cream shops would donate ice cream, and others would donate cookies. The mothers were involved to make it fun for the kids. He mentored young boys because he wanted them to be taught what he had learned on how to be a good young man. He was the founder of CAKES & JAZZ whose mission was to bring youth jazz groups to the public. They held fundraisers with other musicians where Daryl would make his amazing cakes. All proceeds would go to support the youth groups with live jazz shows. The aim was to put instruments and classical jazz training into the hands of the youth. He was always so happy when he was at Cakes & Jazz. Daryl SO loved Pfatz his amazing loving Bulldog. Pfatz was always waiting for something to fall on the floor. He was so smart. You could ask Pfatz, “do you want to take a bath, he would run in there and jump in the bathtub." If Daryl said let’s go for a ride, Pfatz would run to the door and bark, if Daryl was taking too long. His favorite music was jazz. His favorite color was yellow, and he loved roses. He even grew yellow rose bushes outside of his home. His favorite all time person was his mom, Leta Oliver. He loved making her treats and surprising her almost every day with something special. He was so proud of how beautiful and smart she was. He looked to her for wise advice and they enjoyed sharing laughter and meals often together. What a special bond they had. Daryl would always, say "My favorite verse is Psalms 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." He loved that verse. That’s what he stood on because the Lord had always brought him through so many things. We will miss you Daryl and will always love you. Your legacy will live on through us all. We know you are in the arms of Jesus. We know for certain when Jesus saw you, he said, “Well Done My Good and Faithful Servant. Welcome Home.”