Christian Edward Syndergaard

SYNDERGAARD, CHRISTIAN E. "CHRIS" Kalamazoo, Michigan Died February 17, 2014. Christian Edward "Chris" Syndergaard was born in 1963 in Madison, Wisconsin to Larry and Ardis Carr Syndergaard. The family came to Kalamazoo in 1968, and Chris attended Kalamazoo schools, graduating from Kalamazoo Central High. He then graduated from Michigan State University in 1986. He made his "daytime career" in the casework industry, moving from cabinetmaking to estimating and project management. Those who have seen the elaborate reception desks at the Kalamazoo Air Zoo or the WMU Seibert Administration Building will have a measure of his skills. But this creativity extended into the rest of his life, to his light and graceful commissioned furniture in cherry and walnut (always with a hidden drawer!); to his abstract, tactile carvings of waterfowl and shorebirds in exotic woods, sold in galleries and now gracing many Michigan homes; and to his stories and sketches of fishing trips and his bird-hunting experiences, with one accepted by the prestigious Gray's Sporting Journal. Chris was generous and warm-hearted, with a powerful feeling for family and friends, and his self-described "twisted" sense of humor is better called eccentric and enlivening. These qualities marked his varied friendships, from long-standing MSU friends to writers to Iowa corn farmers to area artists. His favorite recreations were in the outdoors, from fishing trips with family to northern Minnesota and northern Michigan as a boy and young man to pheasant hunting in Michigan and Iowa, and biking the Kal-Haven Trail in later years. He and his father smiled over his new AARP card and his "late middle age" as he began the tragically brief second half-century of his life. Chris died in an accident at home. He is survived and mourned by his father Larry, by his sister and brother-in-law Jenny (Syndergaard) Snyder and Bo Snyder, by his especially loved nieces Elizabeth (Ellie) and Margaret (Maisie) Snyder, by his aunts and uncles Clarence and Mary (Syndergaard) Bisek, John and Nancy (Olson) Syndergaard, Darlene (Johnson) Carr, and Jerry and Sandra (Dillon) Carr, by numerous cousins , by many friends, and by his beloved German Shorthair, "Zip." Most recently Chris had ups and downs as he struggled with the devastating disease of alcoholism. His father was his support person, coach, and cheerleader, and for all the difficulties, this could also be a time of shared work, humor, temporary victories, and enjoyment of each other's presence. A memorial service is planned, time and place to be announced. Memorial contributions would be welcomed by Pheasants Forever and the Friends of the Kal-Haven Trail.