Don grew up in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with his parents Arlo and Monica, and his younger brother, Dave. He graduated from Immaculate Conception school in 1946 and obtained his B.A. and M.A. in history and the humanities from the University of Iowa in 1950 and 51.

From 1951 to 1954 Don was in the US Air Force with the good fortune to be sent to Germany and England rather than Korea - his first taste of travel and the first of many visits to Europe.

Don’s first teaching job was in Dixon, Illinois (Reagan’s home town!) Besides teaching high school history,  he was Director of the Dixon Community Players. In 1956 he moved to Riverhead, LI, New York where he taught high school history, directed both  high school plays and the Riverhead Theatre Guild, served on a migrant-slum clearance committee, as well as spending most weekends exploring New York City. In 1958 he met Arlene and eight dates later they were planning to marry.

When Kennedy announced the formation of the Peace Corps, we applied, were accepted and taught in Enugu, Nigeria (Eastern Region, later Biafra) from December 1961 through December 1963.

After a slow return to the US via Africa and Europe, we located in New City, NY where we taught and spent most Saturdays in NYC. Don was active with Aubrey Brown and other returned volunteers in the area in establishing the Committee of Returned Volunteers (CRV) focusing on US policy toward developing countries. With our move to NYC in 1968, Don spent much of the next two years researching and writing in the NY Public Library and working to further CRV pursuits.

In 1970 Don began teaching at Glen Cove, LI high school where he also was yearbook editor. He retired in 1985. In retirement he taught ESL to neighborhood Dominicans and Puerto Ricans, delivered food for Food and Hunger hotline to small soup kitchens in Brooklyn and Harlem, became a potter at our local studio, and continued to research and write. For years we spent February in various cities in Mexico studying Spanish.  

We lived for over thirty years in one of the oldest coops in the City (1924), Hudson View Gardens in Washington Heights, a wonderful neighborhood with parks, shops, and public transportation close by. Still managing the stairs to our fourth floor walk-up, we sold our home in 2013 and moved to be near family in Charlottesville, Virginia.  

Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2004, we were profoundly lucky to have a slow development. A fall in March resulting in a broken C5 bone hastened the decline and Don quietly , comfortably and rather unexpectedly died in his sleep. He knew me to the end.