David Thomas Buchheim

David Thomas Buchheim was born on the 11th of July, 1994 at Hillcrest Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. David died unexpectedly on the 26th of May, 2026, just a few weeks before his 32nd birthday. David was a bright K-12 student who graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in electrical engineering. A life-long Tulsa resident, he was employed as a Senior Substation Engineer where he designed and implemented substations for American Electric Power.

David enjoyed all sorts of games; a passion that may have started with Candy Land as a toddler, progressed to chess competitions in grade school, and eventually to computer games. David was especially fond of board games and always brought several of his favorites to family gatherings. He grew up with Legos and his love of building complex structures with these plastic bricks continued into adulthood. In high school, David built a functional trebuchet for launching pumpkins as part of a physics project. David was also a member of the First Robotics team (Ubotics, Union High School) where he helped build some incredible robots for competition.

In addition to his passion for virtually all things STEM, David had a creative side. He liked music, learned to play the violin, and became a member of the Union High School orchestra. David developed an interest in the science of cooking that led to experiments in sous-vide. His family enjoyed his culinary interests through his holiday baking—his pies and his sweet potato casserole became staples at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

David left us too soon. We are told that the aching sorrow we now feel will diminish with time. However, the void in our hearts will remain. When the ache and void threaten to overwhelm us, we will cherish the time we had with David—our son, our brother, our friend.

David was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents (Arlyne and Russell) and a paternal aunt (Sara). David is survived by his parents (Julie and Mark), a brother and sister-in-law (Daniel and Rizka), paternal grandparents (Dona and Bud), maternal aunts and uncles (Nancy and Mark, Steve and Diane), paternal aunts and uncles (Marty and Cindy, Jim and Renae, Tom and Jill), numerous cousins (Emily, Elizabeth, Brian, Jason, Ben, Lucas, Micaiah, Jacob, Alex, Andrew, Molly), his girlfriend, Elissa, and his cat, Freya.

David’s body will be cremated, his ashes scattered at Rolling Oaks Cemetery (Tulsa, OK), and his name engraved on a stone marker at the cemetery. In lieu of flowers or other expressions of condolence, please consider a donation to Alveus Sanctuary (https://www.alveussanctuary.org/).