Don was born in Carlisle Massachusetts and spent his early and middle childhood in the area. His family relocated to Troy, Ohio for his adolescence years, but spent his summer’s on CuttyHunk Island, Massachusetts where he worked in a family restaurant as well as with a tourist fishing outfit. He graduated from high school in Troy and continued on to attend Harvard University, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree of arts and sciences.
After graduating from University Don moved the western United States to take positions in business management and computer sciences with various organizations, including Great Western Sugar Company, and eventually landing at Storage Tek where he worked for many years. With Storage Tek he worked on a team who were involved with some of the first efforts in modern computer programming.
Don met his future wife, Carroll, and her four children, Jeff, Ward, Chris, and Carrie in 1975, and they married in 1977.
He loved the City of Longmont. During his life here Don served on the liquor board, ran for city council, and was very involved in Leadership Longmont, graduating from their program in 1989.
Along with his wife, Don was also an avid, prize winning, Dahlia grower. They were proud recipients of a proclamation from the City of Longmont for opening their Dahlia garden for public enjoyment. They also received many other awards including Best Flower Garden of Denver’s NBC affiliate search in 1994. He was very active in the Colorado and American Dahlia Societies, serving on their respective boards.
Don is preceded in death by his mother, Florence, father, Gordon and sister, Sally. He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Carroll; son Jeff, daughter-in-law, Ursula, and grandchildren, Zack and Bailey; son Ward; son, Chris; daughter, Carrie (“Charlie”) and son-in-law, Dan; sister, Susan, brother-in-law, John, and nephews John and Tom; brother-in-law Roland, nephew, Phillip, and niece, Susan.
A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, September 25th, 2021 at the McAllister residence. An open house will be held from 11:00am – 3:00pm with dedicated time for guests to share thoughts, prayers and memories from 11:30am – 12:00pm. We welcome you to share your memories of Don during this dedicated sharing time. We will also have a “Memory Jar” if you would like to bring something written or jot something down when you come by instead.
The family requests those who would like to express sympathies to please consider making a charitable donation to the Alzheimer’s Association (https://www.alz.org/) in Don’s name in lieu of flowers.
DONACIONES
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
v.1.9.5