Daniel Richard Sodders

A service of Christian Burial for Daniel Richard Sodders will be held at 1 p.m., Friday, August 11, 2023, at River City Church, 3001 Lawrence Ave., Lawrence, Kansas. Burial will be at Guadalupe Valley Memorial Park in New Braunfels, Texas, Friday, August 18, 2023, at 10 a.m. He died July 29, 2023, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

Daniel was born in New Braunfels, Texas, Friday, August 24, 1962, at 8:33 pm during a thunderstorm and minutes before his fraternal twin Steven was born. As infants, they moved to California with his father, Richard Phillip Sodders (who was in the U.S. Navy), and his mother, Mary Lynn Thompson. The family returned to the Midwest, living again in New Braunfels, TX where younger brother Michael was born. They moved to Beaumont, TX, where he attended Kindergarten and first grade; then moved to Baton Rouge, LA, where his youngest brother, Mark, was born. His family moved to Wichita Falls, Texas, in 1974.

In 1980, he graduated from S. H. Rider High School (Wichita Falls). In 1984, he graduated summa cum laude from Midwestern State University (Wichita Falls) on an academic scholarship (Honors Program) with a B.A. in History (minor in Political Science). In 1985 he moved to Lawrence to pursue advanced degrees at the University of Kansas. He received his M.A. in History in 1988 and his PhD. in History (Medieval) in 1996. The title of his dissertation was Conrad the Fourth as German King, 1237-1250.

As a student employee at KU, Daniel worked from 1987-1996 at the Continuing Education Academic Outreach Programs and from 1995-1996, at the University of Kansas Libraries. In February of 1997, he became a full-time employee of the Libraries as a Library Assistant I, later achieving the highest rank of Library Associate in 2006-present. He primarily was a Serial Cataloger in regular and Special Collections–the Wilcox Collection. His ability to read many languages (German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish), broad educational background, and detail-oriented skills made him exceptional at the complexities of Serials Cataloging. Many of the rare serial items held in the Wilcox Collection are held if at all, by only one other university library other than KU. Daniel took great delight in being the first to add a record to the international library database for these items thereby making obscure materials available to the wider academic community.

On June 28, 2008, he married Joy Miller Fry whom he met at KU Libraries where both were employed. One co-worker said, “They are like two peas in a pod,” being similar in personality, values, Biblical worldview, and goals. They loved worshipping together, exploring Civil War battlefields, and watching old TV favorites (Maverick, MASH, MST3K, and all medieval or war-related videos). What a gift from God Daniel was! He took his role as provider and protector very seriously. During the pandemic, church attendance became difficult but on Sunday afternoons Daniel would say, “It’s time for Alistair Begg” a Scottish preacher whose sermons were broadcast online. They enjoyed working their way through Begg’s book of Ephesians series – all 82 messages!

Although he was active in the University United Methodist Church Youth Fellowship as a young person, later in his 40s, Daniel recognized that even though he was a good person (and he was!), he fell far short when focusing on the perfections and excellencies of God. He understood how Jesus and his sacrifice provided the bridge between sinners and a holy God, and he accepted the gift of Jesus as his Savior and became a child of God and a disciple of

Jesus Christ. Daniel investigated the claims of Jesus and the Bible and concluded they were historical and to be trusted since there is more eye-witness and manuscript evidence than for other ancient documents. He was often annoyed at scoffers of the Bible who came from a literary-philosophical perspective rather than a historical one. Given his medieval bent, he realized Jesus was the perfect King of Kings to whom allegiance was owed. He was faithful in church attendance and was often the Scripture Reader and sang in the choir. Daniel had a compassionate, servant’s heart and served his wife, neighbors, and church family.

Interests throughout the course of his life included the following. While in Baton Rouge, his Cub and Boy Scout troops ushered at LSU football games, resulting in him becoming a lifetime sports enthusiast, enjoying football, baseball, and especially soccer. In his high school years, he was active in band (playing trumpet), ROTC, and choir lending his wonderful bass voice to their efforts. In college, he was a D&D player and dungeon master. From an early age, he enjoyed miniatures. He was an active Historical Wargamer, historical authority, and Civil War buff. He was often called upon by the national wargamer community to clarify battle layouts and the historical characters involved. At Christmas time and Easter every year, he built a Nativity and an Easter panorama depicting those events. Daniel’s love of music spanned from yodeling to European orchestral heavy metal for the stories it told. He enjoyed Coca-Cola, Tostitos, Monty Python, and “Bucky Katt” cartoons. His sense of humor and wit were evident to all.

Daniel’s love of history no doubt came from being a descendant of two of the founders of New Braunfels, TX, Andreas Eikel and Stephan Klein. He is also related to the eldest member of the Constitutional Convention of the Republic of Texas, Collin McKinney, and the American Revolutionary War veteran, Daniel McKinney.

He is survived by his wife, Joy; his father, Richard Sodders and his wife Donna; his three brothers: Steven and his wife Marisa, Michael and his wife Kathie, Mark and his wife Robyn; half-sisters Alexandra Sodders and Madeleine Sodders; aunts, Sara Jo Thompson and Jackie Sodders; uncle, Thomas Sodders; cousins: Natalie Vann and her husband, Kevin; Stacey Pogue, and her husband, Kevin Jewell and their children, Cole and Talia; Kelley Sodders, Victoria Sodders, and Chelsey Sodders.

Memorial contributions may be given to: TMAI (The Master’s Academy International). Instead of “Where needed most,” select “Translation and Global Publishing” which provides Library materials to each of their local training centers. https://www.tmai.org/donate/ Or, Samaritan’s Purse with emphasis on “U.S. Disaster Relief, Building Schools/Building Hope” or “Soccer Balls and Sports Gear” https://www.samaritanspurse.org/our-ministry/donate-online