A Son Shares His Pride in His Father
About Don, by his son Joey
Don was born September 13, 1935, in Stokes County, NC , near Westfield.
He married Glenda on October 13, 1960. Together they had three children: Joey (Trish), of Winston-Salem; Donnie, of Pilot Mountain; and Mary (Ben); of Westfield; and seven grandchildren, whose names are Joe, Sharon, Stacy, Kyle, Rachael, Caleb, and Ethan.
He attended Nancy Reynolds and Westfield elementary schools and Westfield High School, where he was the captain of both the baseball and basketball teams.
After high school, he drove for the Dr. Pepper Bottling Company, in Greensboro, and was one of their youngest drivers. He was a member of the National Guard and enlisted in the Army, where he served as a paratrooper at bases in Kentucky, North Carolina, and Alaska. After his discharge from the Army, he enlisted in the Air Force, becoming a trainer and a jet engine mechanic for the Phantom line of Warbirds. He served at bases in Arizona, Texas, Georgia, Florida, France, Germany, Tripoli, and Vietnam. He deployed to Vietnam in March of 1968 from Moody Air Force Base, in Valdosta, Georgia, and served at Cam Ranh Bay Air Base with the 12th Tactical Fighter Wing for his tour of duty. Upon his return, he was stationed at MacDill Air Force Base, in Tampa, Florida, where he retired in 1975 as a senior master sergeant after 21 years of service.
Following his military career, Don started a new service commitment as an auto mechanics and body shop teacher with the Surry County school system. He taught for 21 years and finally retired in 1997. He was also heavily involved in other activities serving his community. He farmed tobacco, served as a volunteer fireman—and as fire chief—and was an instructor at Surry Community College, where he taught the auto mechanics and inspection certification class. He served with the Pilot Mountain Veterans of Foreign Wars as a multi-time commander and member of the honor guard. He was also heavily involved at Westfield Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon, Sunday school teacher, and he also ran the outreach Sunday school program at Big Dan Lake, in Stokes County, for people who lived or vacationed at the lake.
Don always said he was going to retire three times, and he’s one of the few who actually did. He loves to go fishing at the beach, Big Dan Lake, and “Lake PA PA.” He enjoys road trips, watching baseball (Go ,Dash!), boxing, going to the races at Bowman Gray Stadium, and sitting outside in the sun.