age 88, passed away November 7th, 2009, at the Alamo Nursing Home in Kalamazoo, after a short battle with pneumonia. Christian was born on December 22, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois. At age 2 his family (mother and older brother) returned to Germany after the accidental death of his father, Dr. Christian Peter Karl Dencker, a physician practicing in Chicago and teacher at Rush Medical School. His mother Maria Lacay remarried in Germany to Dr. Georg Pott. Christian grew up in Germany and in the early 1940's was drafted into the German army. After the war he briefly studied engineering in Berlin, at the Technische Hochschule (Technical University) and in 1947 married Eva Winkler, the sister of a fellow engineering student and daughter of a noted art historian, Prof. Dr. Friedrich Winkler. With his American citizenship fully restored, Christian returned to Chicago in 1947 and Eva followed six months later. They settled in the Chicago area with a final home in Winnetka, Illinois. They had two daughters, Andrea Margarete and Claudia Marianne. In the mid-1970s after his divorce, Christian bought a small business and relocated to Battle Creek, Michigan. In 1987, he married Michiel L. Madison, and they had a home in Hickory Corners, Michigan. They owned and managed investment real estate in Kalamazoo and Allegan. Their marriage produced a son, Mathieu Christian Madison, born in 1987. In 2002 Michiel unexpectedly preceded Christian in death. Christian loved history and read constantly, listened to classical music, traced family history extensively, and enjoyed his woods. He was disabled in middle age due to an accident on the job, but still managed to live independently well into his 80's. Surviving are his children, Andrea, Claudia, and Mathieu; his son-in-law John Nerness and grand-daughter Barbara; his half-brother, Georg Pott, and sister-in-law, Margund of Kelkheim, Germany; his first wife, Eva Dencker; and numerous family members of his second wife, Michiel. The family is planning a memorial service with a tree planting in spring 2010 at the Prairieville Cemetery. Arrangements by the Gorden Funeral Residence, Allegan Chapel.