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Donald's death was due to complications from exposure to agent Orange while serving in Vietnam. He served in the USMC on a helicopter crew that swept for mines (according to his brother David). He had ongoing health issues throughout his adult life that slowly got more and more serious. I last saw him when I was home on leave in the early 70's, he was moving to Missouri and then later moved to Florida. He is survived by his wife, Linda and a daughter, Jessica. He passed in Aug 2012.
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Steve Schley
I'm sure others are going to do a better job of eulogizing Don than me. I knew him a bit in HS but didn't spend a lot of time with him. I only knew him for a short 4 years and that was 43 years ago. So the question is... why does it bother me so much to see him gone?
Those four years represent what is probably the most maturing time in my life. Each day seemed to last forever. Today, weeks pass as hours, but back then, time lingered. I entered High School as virtually a child, .. naive, scared, unsure, and perplexed a lot times. In what today is a blink of an eye I left as, for most part, an adult. I was not alone in this. I shared this experience with a group of others. They may not have even known my name, but I was able to see them undergoing the same growth as myself. This was very reassuring in a weird way. I may not have seen Don since then, but he was part of that group. His passing reduces the number of Classmates that I share that time with, and in this, I am diminished .
Alan Gregory Voetsch
Donald and his family grew up down the street from our house up in the Hayward hills. We played basketball, baseball or football practically every day throughout the year. With my brothers (Bill & Steve), his brother (David) and a couple other neighborhood boys we could almost always come up with enough kids to form teams. As the oldest, Donald and I were usually opposing captains so we taught each other how to compete, also how to lose, and win. And really, isn't that what life is about? Yep, we fought, we got into trouble, we did all sorts of stuff together. He is part of me, always was, always has been, and always will be. Funny, as kids he was my best friend. After I got out of the Marines in '76, he had moved East and his brother David became probably my best friend and I still consider him to be that to this day. I make a trip down from Southern Oregon to Tracy to visit him every year.
Alan Voetsch