Saturday, July 14, 2007

Some Somber News


Getting back from Glacier Park.....we received a call from some friends at Old Faithful.

There was a man who worked in the kitchen at the Lodge as a server. His name was Don. Apparently, something in his motorcycle broke and he crashed into the Firehole River between Old Faithful and Madison on Thursday afternoon dying on impact.

It's been a rough few days with this. I got to know Don very well this summer and daily would go visit him at work just to hear his jokes and his stories. He attended law school, later working for the government in some sort of defense work...but after retirement he up and left.

This was his first summer working in the park. We never understood why Don had his jetski here, since you can't use it in the park. He also had a kayak that never seemed to move anywhere, as well as his truck. Don was famous around Old Faithful, though, for riding his motorcycle while still wearing his bright green work gloves.

I've never met a man as genuine as Don. He would always stop and talk to you or anyone! Many a time he got into the best conversations with passing tourists and you would find yourself talking to him for hours just to hear his stories and his jokes (Some were funny and some weren't). Don was the grandfather around here. One of the oldest employees working for Xanterra.....and everyone knew him...and everyone loved him. Being away from home it was nice having a "family member" there....a guy who, even though you weren't related, made you feel like his family.

The world lost a good one this week...a good man, a good friend, an amazing Christian.

Rest In Peace Don. We love you.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Thank you a lot for posting this. Don was my step-grandfather but he really did make us (all of my family) feel like we were really related. To know that he was loved elsewhere makes me happy!