Don Minore

He was born on October 31st, 1931 in Markham, Illinois, but in High School moved to Minong, Wisconsin with his parents, Donald and Molly. They lived in a house with no electricity or running water, a few miles outside of town, by Lake Pokegama.

Upon graduating from Minong High School, Don went to study forestry and received his Master’s. After a brief stint in the army, where he was trained in map-making skills and stationed for one year in Germany, Don went to the Pacific Northwest, to work for the U.S. Forest Service. His job was to hike into unknown country on the Olympic Peninsula and map the timber. He would sleep right on the trail, or beside a stream. If he was by a stream, he would fill a bucket full of stream water, and set it by his sleeping bag when he went to sleep. When he woke up in the middle of the night and needed a drink, the water was right there within reach. This was one of the happiest times of his life.

Then it was back to the Bay Area, to study plant ecology at Berkeley. It was there that Don met Ione Bruning, who was to become his future wife on June 22nd, 1963. Don and Ione moved to Corvallis in the fall of 1965, after Don was hired by the Forest Service to work at the lab there. In 1966 they bought a home a few miles outside of Corvallis, on the banks of the Willamette River, where they would live for the next fifty years and have 2 children: Anna Miriam and Timothy John.

Don was a great father and husband. His family always came first. He was always happiest when out in nature, on a good hike. He leaves behind countless photographs in the style of his photographic hero, Ansel Adams. We will remember him for being the most honorable and honest person we ever knew.

He suffered a stroke on the morning of October 28th, and left us at 8 PM on October 30th, only four hours short of his 90th birthday. We hope that he is with our mother now, and that we will see them both again.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.skylinememorialgardens.com for the Minore family.