Don was born January 10, 1937, in Menomonee Falls on the family dairy farm located at the base of Tower Hill. He grew up helping his family run the farm. After he graduated from Menomonee Falls High School in 1955, he enrolled at the Racine Kenosha Teachers College in Union Grove WI where he graduated in 1957. It was there that he met Sandy. He was married to Sandra Schaetten on June 14, 1958, at St. John Lutheran Church in Slades Corners. They moved to New Berlin, built a new house and started a family. He also started teaching and going to school at UW-Whitewater for his bachelor’s degree in education. He taught in Butler for two years and then went to the New Berlin School District working at Elmwood Elementary School and then Cleveland Heights Elementary School until he retired in 1994. He liked to joke that he never left fifth grade for all those years. He also worked at Schumacher Equipment Company in Elm Grove fixing lawn mowers during this time to make ends meet.
During summer vacations he would take the family camping around the state and country. After a few years, he sold the camper and bought a cabin up in Rosholt on Lake Helen. After both he and Sandy retired, they sold the house in New Berlin and the cabin, then moved across the lake into a year round home. They also bought an RV so they could become snowbirds.
Don loved to help people whenever and however he could. He loved to garden and had a big garden in New Berlin. His gardening continued up north as he talked the farmer across the street into letting him create a humongous garden where the irrigation pipes couldn’t reach. He would put out all the produce on picnic tables for people to take. He did put up a donation jar to help recoup some of the cost of the seeds, but he never charged people for anything. Don was active in the lake community and spent many hours dredging the lake with his best friends to create better fishing and recreation on the lake. He was an active member in the Rosholt Lions Club. His favorite volunteer jobs were selling French fries at the Iola car show for many years, helping with meals on wheels and working the Opening Eyes Clinics at the Special Olympics events in Stevens Point. His favorite volunteer jobs were selling French fries at the Iola car show for many years, helping with meals on wheels and working the Opening Eyes Clinics at the Special Olympics events in Stevens Point.
Don was a faithful member at Faith Lutheran church. He enjoyed making pies for the different dinners and events. He especially enjoyed the supporting the raffles and auctions for the church including Drive Your Tractor to Church and the Faithful Knotters.
After his wife Sandy passed away in 2004, he continued to be a snowbird traveling to Fun N Sun in Texas where they had purchased a park model trailer and was active in many things there. He loved to play cards and dominoes, square dance, watch the remote car races, drive his golf cart around the park to chat with everyone and sell raffle tickets at the dance hall. He met his second wife, Dianne, in the activity office and they were married in 2014. They enjoyed traveling, playing cards, entertaining, and going on cruises together until she passed away in 2022.
Don then moved back to Wisconsin into Wellington Place, an assisted living facility in Hartford, to be nearer to his family. He enjoyed playing cards, bingo, watching the geese on the pond and the squirrels and birds outside his window. He loved going on field trips with his friends via the Wellington bus, especially to Germanfest in West Bend and out for ice cream. He would stop who ever walked in and chat with them and ask them to smile with him. His sister Janice would faithfully come several times a week to play cribbage and bingo with him, and keep him well supplied in a variety of treats including watermelon and pie.
The family would like to thank everyone that has helped Don along the way. Special thanks to his friends Lee who would stop in whenever he was in town to get beat in a game of cribbage by him and Joe and his wife Mary who would stop in and bring him treats. Faith Lutheran church and his special friends Norma and Lois who would always check up on him. Steve and Kathy Grill who helped keep an eye on everything so he could travel. His special friends in Texas who were always there for him including Red Melton and Barry and Ruby Shaw. Doctor Daniel Tamez, who gave us the gift of having Dad with us for another 25 years by successfully getting him through a ruptured aortic aneurysm. Wellington Place Assisted Living in Hartford for all the love, help and great activities that kept him happy and active.