Donald DeGooyer
January 14, 1926 - July 2, 2013
Obituary
Donald DeGooyer
“Just Coasting”
January 14, 1926 – July 2, 2013
Born in Yakima, Washington, one of five children of Henry and Elaine Mills DeGooyer. Don grew up in and around Yakima. In 1944, he graduated early from Tieton High School. He was Class President and first string baseball and basketball. Don enlisted in the US Navy on January 13, 1944, and was sent to Farragut, Idaho, for basic training. After basic training he was assigned to a ship in Seattle which was a floating mobile machine shop to answer the need of the Service Force for small repair units. The ship was outfitted and took on supplies and left for Oakland, California, when finally “the orders we were all waiting for were received.” The ship was assigned to the South Pacific. In 1945, the ship was headed toward Japan, amid rumors of an invasion, when the Japanese surrendered ending the war.
After the war, Don attended the University of Washington and studied engineering and architecture. When visiting his family in Yakima, he met Jean who was in town visiting her cousin. They fell in love and were married January 17, 1947, in Yakima. Soon after, they wanted to try their hand at farming and moved to Missouri, not far from Jean’s parents. Their daughter Terri Denise was born in 1952. A few years later, Don decided that farming was not the life for him, and he, Jean and Terri moved to Wichita, Kansas, where Don went to work at Boeing as an engineer. At that time he also took advantage of the GI Bill and got additional training at the University of Wichita. In 1957, Don transferred to Boeing in Seattle, where he worked until 1970, when he left to sell real estate. For several years, Don and Jean had their own real estate company, Invesco. He sold commercial properties, and she sold residential. He eventually returned to Boeing, was named Outstanding Employee in 1988, and retired later that year.
Don’s favorite activities were camping, RVing, boating, fishing, gardening, woodworking, sports of all kinds, especially golfing and bowling, and especially enjoyed watching his grandsons participate in sports.
Don and Jean spent time RVing often with their grandsons, his sister Virginia and husband Cap, and with their best friends Bob and Donna. Over the years they traveled to every state in the union and to Canada. They frequently traveled to Arizona in the winter to visit Don’s youngest sister Deanna and her husband Chris and family. Don was a member of FMCA (Family Motor Coach Association). He was also a member of the Elks in Wichita and Lake City and Bellevue, Washington. Don and Jean were Wagon Masters for the Lake City RV Elks Group, planning the year’s outings.
Other travels included a cruise to Alaska, and driving the RV to Disney World in Florida, where daughter Terri, husband Marty and grandsons Brent and Kyle flew out to join them. His grandsons fondly recall their first plane ride and staying in the RV at the Disney campground, where they enjoyed all the attraction over a week’s stay and relaxed at the evening show on the water at Disney’s Fort Wilderness.
Summers, Don and family traveled on their boat, the JEDONTE (named for Jean, Don and Terri), frequently going to the San Juan Islands with friends, Ken and Joy.
Don created a woodworking shop in his garage where he designed and built furniture, including a captain’s bed for his first grandson, a barbeque cart, a toy-box, and knick-knacks for family and friends.
Don enjoyed accompanying his wife Jean to the annual conventions of Epsilon Sigma Alpha (ESA), of which Jean was a member for more than forty years. ESA is a women’s philanthropic sorority that raises funds for Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis. For many years Don was the Men’s Hospitality Coordinator at the annual conventions; one of the activities he organized was a golf tournament for the men who accompanied their wives to the conventions.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Henry and Elaine DeGooyer, sisters Virginia and Marlene, and brother William.
Survived by his wife Jean of sixty-six years, daughter Terri, son-in-law Clarence Martin, grandsons Brent and Kyle, great-granddaughter Ashley, great-grandson Camden, sister Deanna, and many nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Saint Jude’s Children’s Hospital www.stjude.org
WALDA JEAN AND FAMILY-
WE WERE SO SADDENED TO HEAR OF DON’S PASSING. THE DEATH OF LOVED ONES IS SO DIFFICULT. PLEASE KNOW THAT WE WILL BE THINKING OF YOU IN THE COMING DAYS AND MONTHS
Our deepest sympathy goes out to you and all the family.
Our love and prayers are with you all: Jean, Terri and family. We remember all the good times with Don and Jean and Terri while boating in the San Juans. Also, in our retirement, the lunch get togethers.
Don, was one of my two Godfathers.
It had been too long since I’d had the opportunity to visit with he and Jean.
Uncle Don you will be greatly missed!!
Jean, Terri, Dink, and family our best regards from here in South Dakota.
UNCLE DON WAS ALWAYS A GREAT UNCLE AND FRIIEND TO HIS NIECES AND NEPHEWS IN YAKIMA. WE DID NOT GET TO SEE HIM AND AUNT JEAN AS OFTEN AS WE WOULD HAVE LIKED, BUT THEY WERE ALWAYS A JOY TO BE AROUND. HE WILL BE MISSED BY THOSE THAT WERE CLOSE TO HIM.
BOB DEGOOYER
Don hired me into Boeing in 1967 and I ended up staying for 25 years. He was not only my boss but a friend and we had many good times together. Saying he was a “nice man” says it all for me. I will miss him.
I will greatly miss Uncle Don. I so enjoyed visiting as a child when they lived in (now) SeaTac and Newport Hills. Uncle Don was at my mother’s bedside (his sister Marlene) right before she passed and he and Aunt Jean gave all of us great comfort when difficult decisions needed to be made. Thank you, Terri, for caring so well for your parents. I will forever remember the wonderful childhood memories in SeaTac.
PS: It seems I’m now continuing the employment tradition set by Uncle Don, I have been in engineering at Boeing for almost 10 years now, working on different programs for the 787. .