He was born in 1932 and raised in Portland, Oregon. He graduated from Oregon State University in 1954. While at OSU, he met Shirley. They married and spent 63 years together before she passed away in 2020. He spent four years as an Officer in the U. S. Navy and 38 years with General Electric Company as an accountant.
They were married in Newport, RI, and subsequently lived in San Diego, Oklahoma City, New York City, upstate New York, Newtown, CT., and Phoenix. While in Newtown, Shirley was the Republican Registrar of Voters, an elected position, and Don was the Chairman of the Inland Wetlands Regulatory Commission.
They have two sons, Kenneth, born in San Diego, and David, born in Phoenix, and six grandchildren.
After he retired from GE, they moved to Sun City West in 1999. Shortly after moving back to the Valley, they joined WVGS. Shirley was the Editor of Tidbits for many years, and Don was a member and then Chairman of the Finance Committee. They were also proofreaders for both Tidbits and Desert Tracker.
Shirley was a direct descendant of Edward Beeson, who appeared in 1702 before William Penn’s Commissioners of Property in Philadelphia and received a Land Grant in Nottingham Township near Maryland.
Don selected “The Nottingham Lots: A Tercentenary Celebration 2001” by East Nottingham Trustees as his choice for inclusion in our Library’s collection in honor of his 90th birthday.