by SEAN KIMMONS
Renee Dahl’s favorite memory of her son, who died last week at home after returning from his second Afghanistan tour, was of working alongside him at her flower shop.
While at the shop, Christopher Cody Dahl secretly learned how to arrange flowers but didn’t want anyone to know that he knew, she said.
“He always tried to have this tough exterior, but he was gentle,” she said on Monday, a few days after she buried her 25-year-old son on Saturday. “He was just a sweet, loving soul.”
Mourners gathered at Hays Hills Baptist Church in Buda to pay respects to the Marine corporal soon to be sergeant. Dahl, a 2004 Hays High School graduate, was discovered dead in his bed at his mother’s home in the 300 block of Live Oak St. in Buda on Jan. 5.
Renee Dahl said that her son had played football for the Rebels, participated in the school band and left the states to travel to Europe when he was 20 years old.
Despite a history of seizures, Dahl was eventually cleared by the military to join the Marines.
“He was very adventurous,” she said.
That adventurous spirit led Dahl to leave his Okinawa, Japan-based combat engineer unit and volunteer for two Afghanistan tours.
Renee Dahl admitted that she was hesitant to have her son in combat but the decision was in her son’s hands. After his second tour ended, he came to Buda to surprise her for Christmas, she said.
“He was a loving, kind and strong person who loved his country,” she said.
At the funeral, the Rev. David Sweet read the favorite memory that Dahl’s sister had of her younger brother, who would pester her as a child.
When Dahl was asked why he’s such a pest, he would reply, “It’s my job. I’m a brother and I do it well.”
The exact cause of death is still unknown. Buda Police Chief Bo Kidd said Friday that there were no visible injuries to his body and nothing to indicate suicide or a suspicious death. Dahl’s history of seizures could be to blame, Kidd said.
“There’s a whole array of possibilities,” he said. “It’s hard to speculate right now.”
Justice of the Peace Pct. 5 Scott Cary ordered an autopsy and toxicology report from Central Texas Autopsy in Lockhart, Kidd said.
Dahl is survived by his mother, Renee, father, Bobby Joe Dahl, and sister, Brooke Ann Weiler. He was buried at the Norse Our Savior Lutheran Church in Clifton near Waco.
