Rodney Dempsey

Rodney Alan Dempsey, age 69 of Indianapolis passed away on December 7, 2022 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He was born on March 24, 1953 in Dayton, Ohio. He was preceded in death by two sons, Duane Michael and Matthew Thomas, and parents Leonard and Thelma Dempsey. He is survived by his son, Jason Dempsey (Marlene) and daughter, Valerie Dempsey (Brad), grandchildren Sarah, Justin, Brenden, and Gabriel; great grandchildren Cadence and Rowan; siblings Glen Dempsey and Cindy Dempsey, nieces Heather Young (Dave) and Tracy Dempsey, and nephew Josh Griffin (Nikki).

In his youth, he was donned "trader Rod" and frequently swapped toys with the neighbors. He was always bringing something unexpected home, including a possum in a box, a baby duck we named "Wiggles", a large snapping turtle he found on the road, and a baby squirrel that had ran up his back. He was gifted at drawing from a young age, sketching race cars, motorcycles, and other action scenes.

He had the most creative mind and was as ornery as could be when it came to jokes and pranks. Ideas just flowed from him. He was a master at executing his pranks, and anyone who knew him or met him was fair game. He laughed easily and spontaneously came up with one liners that would crack everyone up. Not surprising, he was donned “Class Clown” in high school, and was known to chase his little sister and the neighborhood kids with such things as spiders, frogs, and praying mantis – the bigger the better.

He was a talented tenor and guitarist, and used his voice to proclaim the gospel after his own conversion after high school. He got heavily involved with the youth at church, helped build a bus ministry by knocking on doors, and then he drove that bus. For a while, he and his gospel band, "Bread of Life Singers" took the message to the streets, singing in parks and wherever they could to spread the good news of the gospel.

Rod was a gifted salesman and saw success regardless of the product he was selling. He loved to fish and then fry them up. He owned motorcycles and loved the wind in his face. He biked hundreds of miles on his recumbent bike with brother Glen, enjoying local bike trails. They also enjoyed going to the races, and Rod was unanimously donned everyone’s “Favorite Uncle”. He was loved and will be greatly missed.

The family would like to extend a special thanks to Abrey Parrott for the kind and compassionate in-home care she provided to Rod over the last year, as well as others from Care Hospice.

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