Donald was born into a family that was hard hit by the Great Depression in 1929. This back-drop shaped much of his later life and values he held. He did many different jobs growing up to help his very large family. His first paper route was at age 6. When he was older, he always said he would go to college, even though it was not in his family's vocabulary. School sometimes took a secondary role, though he skipped a grade and graduated from high school at 16.
He was an avid Boy Scout, eventually earning his Eagle Scout Badge. He credited Scouting with helping him develop his work ethic, social and moral values. He met his future wife, Irene, at a skating pond when he was 15 and she was 14, playing "whip the tail." Walking her home after skating he told her, "I am going to marry you."
He enlisted at 17 in 1941, becoming a radio operator, tail gunner in the Army Air Corps 13th Squadron, in the Pacific Theater, including the Northern Solomons Campaign, the Bismark Archipelago Campaign, the New Guinea Campaign, the Philippine Campaign, mustering out in late 1945.
He married Irene Sexton as he predicted, on January 5, 1946. When he learned she was pregnant shortly afterwards, he enrolled in the Co-Op Mechanical Engineering program at Northeastern University, under the GI Bill, to provide a better life for his family. He excelled in his studies, graduating in 1953. His only child, a son, was born in 1947. His first job after college was at Sperry Rand in N.Y. as a technical writer, while he worked toward a mechanical engineering job. Three years later, he started at Raytheon in Massachusetts as a reliability engineer, later specializing in cryogenic engineering. He was an active participant in Raytheon's
development of the microwave oven, the Patriot Missile Program and cryogenic weapons development for arctic and outer space use.
He was dedicated to his wife and family and helped instill his work and learning ethic in his son and was active in Scouting with him. His son also received his Eagle Scout badge, when he was 13, among the earliest in the country at that time. Later Don helped his wife start an advertising agency in Hudson, MA in the early sixties, which his wife Irene operated quite successfully. He pitched in, doing drawings and helping incorporate computerization to the business. He retired from Raytheon after 29 years with the company, proud of the heritage he left behind for other Raytheon engineers. Shortly afterwards, he developed a blood borne cancer, Parkinson's Disease and Alzheimer's Disease, which eventually took his life at 69. He is sorely missed.