Don and his wife moved to a small town in southwest Missouri in 1991. In his own words, "I had three reasons for moving to Missouri: "December, January, and February. I just simply don't like 30 degrees below zero and howling winds during the winter. " He and his wife have been married for 54 years. "Yep," says Don, "and she's still the right one. As a matter of fact, I'd say she was probably my most successful venture." Don and his wife have two children, a son and a daughter, and a granddaughter.
Don is 76 chronological years old, but his energy and his heart are ageless. He retired in 1988 as plant manager for a paper converting business in Iowa. The plant was originally located in Minnesota when he was hired. After three months' review of the troubled plant, Don went to company headquarters in New York and told them, "This dog ain't gonna have no pups! We need to get out into the country where we have room to expand and do the new things. We can't make money doing the same old thing in the same old way while the rest of the world moves ahead." He was given the 'go ahead' to start the plant sight search. Put in charge of a new site selection for the plant, Don looked for a location with quality people, rather than simply a location with high unemployment. "And boy," says Don, "I really found them there (in Sibley). They all pitched in, and when I retired, we had 400 people - all of whom were workers. At that time, the plant was producing 4 million popcorn bags a day." The major products they expanded into were Pioneer Seed Corn, Purina Dog Food, and General Mills Gold Medal Flour bags.
In about 1980, the company was attempting to make the microwave popcorn bag in another plant. They were about to give it up when they asked 'The Country Boys' to give it a shot. The fundamentals were already in place, but it could not be made in a workable fashion. Don redesigned some of the equipment and revised the bag, and they were off and running to be the first successful producer of today's popcorn bag. At the time of his retirement they were making four million microwave popcorn bags a day, and as one of 15 plants owned by the company, they produced 40% of the company's profits.
When he retired, Don recommended as his replacement the first employee he had hired at the plant in Iowa -- a young college graduate fresh out of the Navy. He had trained and mentored this young man over the years. Shortly after Don retired, the company was sold to a national concern. A few years later, that same man was named their plant manager of the year. "You can bet I busted a few buttons over that one!" said Don.
Don is chairman of the Board of Directors of the local Area Agency on Aging, and speaker pro tem of the Silver Haired Legislature. He also does taxes and "circuit breakers" for senior citizens in the area. He has filled out over 100 forms this year alone. One of the senior citizens he filed taxes for last year received a refund of about $360. She had been living on an annual income of about $6,100 per year and lived in low income housing. Reflecting on the incident, Don said, "She just cried. Said she could now get those new teeth she needed so bad. You know, you can't quit when you see things like that." In the photo below, Don (right) is doing taxes for Willard, a senior, at one of three sites where he volunteers during tax season.
When asked to describe a typical day in his life, Don recounted what he had done the day he was interviewed. "I started by roto-tilling two gardens for senior citizens, looked at a horse (but didn't buy it), ate lunch, took a nap, mowed a large yard, and burned off some brush. Then I took my lovely wife and one of her friends to [a nearby town] for supper, went to Wal-Mart, came home, and answered your phone call." Needless to say, Don likes to stay busy.
Another of Don's surprises was this revelation: "I'm also a cowboy. I rope steers a couple of time a week. In fact, I'll be doing that tomorrow evening." He loves horses, has trained "many a good horse," and enjoys riding. It appears that he's pretty good at steer roping. In the fall of 2000, he came in fourth in a competition of 252 (at Carthage), and second out of 156 teams at Double J.
As part of the International Executive Service Corp., Don went to Saudi Arabia last year and to Russia the year before. He says, "I enjoy traveling, but my wife doesn't - so she stays home when I go on these trips." Don wears a hearing aid, and for a recent fund-raising project for the local senior center, he approached his hearing aid specialist with a proposal.
"Why don't you donate a hearing aid for this fund raiser? Two thirds of the people who attend this senior center either wear hearing aids or need to do so." Instead, the man donated two hearing aids, and response has been great to the project.
When asked about his health, Don replied, "Oh, very good. I try to stay active, because I believe that's part of staying in good health." How does he feel about his life so far? "We're happy, and we're having fun. We enjoy people, and we do a lot of things. My wife plays cards and things like that, and she's been a very faithful partner all the way. I've done some awful things to her. For instance, one time the phone rang the day after Labor Day, and my boss said, 'What do you know about Pine Bluff?' I replied, 'Well, it's in Arkansas.' He said, 'All Hell's broke loose down there and I don't know what we're going to do. I'll get back to you.' He hung up and called me back a couple of hours later, saying, 'You're the new manager in Pine Bluff. Meet me in Memphis tomorrow morning and we'll go from there to Pine Bluff.' I turned the plant over to another fella, went home and kissed Mama, and said, 'Sell the house, we're moving to Pine Bluff. I'll see ya.' And she was the kind of woman who sold the house and moved to Pine Bluff."
His advice for aging successfully? "I would tell others to look around for opportunities to help other people, and some of the other people will help you! There are a million opportunities to help others that don't cost a nickel. Stay active. Don't wait for people to help you; go help somebody else!"
UPDATE: In the Spring of 2001, Don wrote us that he was still going strong. Here he is with a widow (Rosa, who lives on a farm nearby), for whom he has cut wood to help with her home heating. Another friend, Daryl, (also a senior) helps, and gets a share of the wood they cut. They do not cut live trees; only dead or down ones that need to be removed from their environment.
Don also works as a volunteer for AARP, helping other seniors with their income taxes each year. In addition to that, he is a Silver-haired Legislator, and serves as Speaker-Pro-Tem in the House for that distinguished group.
In between his many volunteer activities and his steer roping, Don enjoys trout fishing, and stays actively involved with his family. And last but not least, Don was also named AARP Volunteer of the Year in 2000.