David Dockstader
David John Dockstader, 81, of Hopkinton slipped peacefully away at home on Aug. 15, 2026, after a struggle with pancreatic cancer, with his close family in attendance.
Born in Somerville in 1945, he was the son of the late John and Libby Dockstader. A 1963 graduate of Hopkinton High School, he resided in Hopkinton, Southborough and surrounding towns for 71 of his 81 years. He was a Boy Scout in Troop 1 in Hopkinton as well as an adult leader of Cub Pack 21 and Troop 92 of Southborough. A U.S. Navy veteran, he was a plank holder of the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). He later joined the Southborough Fire Department, was a charter member of Southborough Permanent Firefighters Local 3129, and retired as a captain after 30 years. “Maybe I’m not cut out for this after all,” Dave thought when he came home with a headache and vomiting after fighting his first fire with the Southborough FD. He learned later they all felt sick after a fire, back in the mid-1970s, before respirators. But he came to realize it was perfect for him, and there was nothing else he’d rather do.
He attended college at Boston University and Emmanuel College, earning a B.A. in fine arts, and later attended Anna Maria College, earning a master’s degree in counseling psychology. He was a licensed mental health counselor, served on the Central Mass CISM team for first responders and was the coordinator of the Southborough/Northborough Trauma Response Network.
A lifelong artist, he explored many different mediums, and he studied with other artists both here and abroad. In 1989, he added a job teaching art to children in the Assabet Valley Collaborative and found a new family in the teaching staff and students for 37 years. He said it was the most rewarding years of his career.
He adored his family. He was preceded in death by his parents; his former wife, Ann; and his brother William. Dave is survived by his devoted wife of 25 years, Virginia, son John of Colorado, brother Bruce (Sue) of Ohio, sister Deborah Gray (Stewart) of New Hampshire, sister-in law Linda (William) of Washington, nephews Tad (Lee) of Pennsylvania and Ara (Michelle) of Ohio, niece Lianne Avery (Andrew) of New Hampshire, and cousins in Gloucester. Always cheerful and friendly, Dave was respected by all who met him, and he made families out of his groups of friends, neighbors, colleagues and students, always searching for the connections and bridges to others. He continued to meet with his high school classmates for lunch every other week up until the very end.
He is grateful to the outstanding staff at Dana-Farber Brigham Cancer Center and Milford Regional Medical Center Cancer Center of Excellence. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to these organizations.
Dear friends may join the family for visitation on Friday, Aug. 21, from 4-6 p.m. at Chesmore Funeral Home in Hopkinton. A memorial service will be held at the funeral home at 6 p.m. Interment will be in the Collins family plot at Beechbrook Cemetery in Gloucester at a later date.
Obituaries are submissions, typically from funeral homes, that are not subject to the same level of editorial oversight as the rest of the Hopkinton Independent. Obituaries may be edited for grammatical and factual mistakes and clarifications and shortened for space considerations.
Dave had an enduring, life-long commitment to preserving emergency services and its personnel. We were extremely fortunate to have been blessed with his intuitive & scrupulous energies as part of our Critical Incident Stress Team. Over the years he had lived and seen many, many challenges to firefighter safety, along with the residual effects of having responded to the deadliest of incidents. As always, Dave found ways to combine his unique skillsets, assisting healing after work-related hardships – finding common ground with those who hesitated to receive assistance. Always mindful and ever-present in the work with his Assabet students, Dave generated mechanisms for student self-expression and improvement. His personal warmth, and strikingly memorable life-story remain a tribute to a life lived very well – a man insisting on finding paths of satisfaction, while always striving to make things better !