‘Our everything.’ Beloved TatoNut owner dies from COVID-19, wife announces
David Mohler, who owned the beloved TatoNut Donut Shop in downtown Ocean Springs, has passed away from complications of COVID-19, his wife and co-owner Theresa Mohler wrote Wednesday morning on Facebook.
A community is mourning the loss of 61-year-old Mohler, who donated his time and money to many causes and cooked up doughnuts daily with his wife in the popular Government Street shop, billed as “home of the only real donut.”
Mohler shared the story of losing his daughter, Sophia Mohler, to a rare brain tumor in hopes that other children could be saved.
Mohler, who passed away in the hospital Tuesday, also is survived by daughter Katelyn Mohler and four of seven brothers.
“It is with a heavy heart that Katelyn and (I) confirm the news that David, our everything, has passed from this life into the arms of his loving Heavenly Father,” Theresa Mohler wrote. “We know he was greeted by the cutest little brown eyed girl, that he has missed so dearly for the past 10 years.
“Despite the efforts of an amazing health care team, his underlying conditions left him virtually defenseless against Covid-19.”
Funeral arrangements are pending at Bradford-O’Keefe Funeral Home in Ocean Springs.
Mohler devoted to faith, family
Floral tributes were piling up in front of the shop, where two of his brothers shared memories of Mohler on Wednesday afternoon. Tributes to Mohler also poured in on Facebook, where his good deeds over the years were recounted.
Mohler was one of seven brothers, all born within 10 years. He and his brothers learned how to make doughnuts before school every day in their parents’ doughnut shop.
“For him to pick up that torch was a great honor to our father,” brother Mark Mohler said through tears.
Although David Mohler carried on the family business, he was more than just the man behind those delectable doughnuts.
“That’s a very small part of who David Mohler was,” Mark Mohler said. “The two words that define him best are faith and family. His commitment to both transcends anything he accomplished as a business person. Anyone who really knew him knows that.”
As a child, David was known for being creative. He made video shorts, such as “Disco Santa Claus,” and loved music. Mark said his brother had a lot of musical equipment and would go up and down the Coast “spinning records before spinning records was cool.”
Younger brother Jeff Mohler said: “Back in his music days, you came into this place (where) music was always playing. People would come to the back of the shop to carry on conversations and cut up as he was producing his doughnuts and making up his creations.”
Mohler rose at 3 a.m. to make doughnuts
First cousin Connie Moran will remember Mohler for “his huge but humble heart and his amazing work ethic.”
“It brought him great joy to bring the sweet gift of TatoNut to his community,” she said.
She said that his parents, Robert and Nonie Mohler, first opened a Spudnut franchise on Washington Avenue.
She remembers that the boys slept in bunk beds in the back of the shop and rose at 3 a.m. to make doughnuts, which became a lifelong routine for David Mohler.
As a boy, Moran said, he also made signs out of construction paper for the doughnut showcase. The Mohlers gave up the franchise in the 1970s and came up with their own doughnut recipe using potato flour.
David Mohler inherited the business in the 1980s.
“David was committed to continuing the legacy with the TatoNut Shop,” said Moran, the city’s former mayor. “He and his wife, Theresa, built a successful, vibrant business that was the mainstay for people throughout the Coast to share the special treat.”
Community pours out love
The Mohler family was touched by all the tributes coming in.
“This isn’t the first time the Coast has poured out,” Jeff Mohler said. “This community is amazing”
Mark Mohler said: “It’s hard to describe the feeling you get knowing that so many people are willing to stop and share. Sometimes, we don’t know how many friends we have until catastrophe strikes. Then, you have all of these reminders.”
The community also surrounded the Mohler family after the loss of David and Theresa Mohler’s daughter, Sophia. Sophia was diagnosed at age 7 with a rare and incurable brain tumor known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG.
The community donated money that gave the Mohlers an opportunity to focus on Sophia and temporarily close the shop as she received treatment.
Mark Mohler said his brother had a hard time accepting donations and help when he was the one who always tried to help others. His brother donated money left from their contributions to others who didn’t have as much community support.
The love of community and devotion to faith that their parents instilled in them will keep the Mohler family going.
They will miss most David Mohler’s kind heart, and his devotion to faith and family.
“That’s something we should all look at and move forward with,” Jeff Mohler said.
This story was originally published January 13, 2021 at 9:30 AM.
