SPRINGFIELD, IL - Dan Erwin, 68, of Springfield, died peacefully on Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, at St. John's Hospital. His wife and son were at his bedside.

Dan had fought bravely against a very rare and very aggressive cancer. He received excellent care and treatment from Springfield Clinic Cancer Center, but in the end the cancer could not be stopped.

Dan was born July 30, 1947, in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Charles Mack Erwin and Marjorie Aileen Leibold Erwin.

Dan went to college at WIU in Macomb. While there, he met the love of his life - Marjo Ann Pape. They married in 1969 and have remained together ever since. They had two children, Karen and David.

Dan enlisted in the U.S. Army for three years. For one year, he was posted to a NATO Communications Center in Holland where he supervised troops of five different nationalities. Marjo was with him for this wonderful year.

After military service, they completed one more year of college at WIU. Dan got his BA in the same amount of time that Marjo got her MA.

After college in late 1972, they moved to Springfield with $400 in their pockets, got an apartment, and looked for jobs. Marjo was quickly hired at Franklin Life. Dan was eventually hired as a Governmental Career Trainee at the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Dan moved up at DOT in a series of leadership positions in different parts of the organization. He retired in 2002 as the Manager of the Accounts and Finance Section - ironically, the same office where he had started as a trainee 30 years before.

Retirement allowed Dan to pursue other employment opportunities. He was a management consultant on a few assignments. He was a field supervisor in the 2010 U.S. Census - a very similar position to the one held by his fourth great-grandfather Erwin 200 years before in the 1810 Census.

Dan's greatest employment joy was substitute teaching in the local high schools - especially Rochester. He worked several long term assignments in History and Government and really enjoyed this activity.

Dan's retirement also allowed him to avidly pursue a wide variety of interests: mainly poker, golf, numismatics, genealogy, and investments. In the last few years, Dan served as a volunteer tour guide at the Old State Capitol and also as the Saturday morning starter at Piper Glen Golf Course.

Dan was preceded in death by his parents and daughter, Karen Erwin.

He is survived by his wife, Marjo; son, David; sister, Ann Erwin of Thousand Oaks, Calif.; one niece; and three nephews.

A visitation will be held from 1-3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2015, at Wilson Park Funeral Home in Rochester.

Please do not bring or send flowers - Dan hates flowers. Instead, please make a donation to the Erwin Fund - Rochester High School Social Studies Department.

Wilson Park Funeral Home, 200 E. Main St. Rochester, IL 62563 is in charge of arrangements. Visit our online obituary at www.wilsonparkfuneralhome.com.