Don Allen Ward, 79

Don Allen Ward, 79

Don Allen Ward, 79, born in 1939, passed away peacefully at Hospice House in Coeur d’Alene on July 30, 2018. His wife and best friend, Dottie, was at his side. A resident of Hayden for the past 17 years, Don enjoyed hunting, fishing, and camping with his family and his faithful dog, Lexi, in the great Northwest. Regular attendees at Lake City Church, Don and Dottie took pleasure in Sunday brunch and a drive after the early service. To say they enjoyed their life together is an understatement.

Don was born in New Mexico and raised in Colorado. He graduated from Alamosa High in 1957. He was an accomplished drag racer in the small town where he lived and had a collection of several unpaid traffic tickets to prove it. When Don enlisted in the Navy right after high school, his acceptance into the service required that every one of those tickets be paid ... by his father! Don served on a destroyer during the Cuban Missile Crisis and was honorably discharged in 1964 because of a broken back suffered during a storm at sea.

A man of integrity with an excellent work ethic, Don moved up the ladder to the position of Vice President and General Manager of Waxie Enterprises in Southern California. He moved north to the mountain town of Bishop where he started his own business 13 years later. After 22 years of a successful business, Don passed it on to his son, and moved to Idaho with Dottie, where they settled down in Hayden.

Don liked to fix things and spent countless hours in his garage rebuilding and refurbishing anything and everything. His generous spirit and kind heart are remembered by all who knew him. With a smile and quick joke, Don made himself available to help his neighbors and friends without being asked. His quick wit and sense of humor stayed with him until the end of his life.

Don Ward is survived by his wife, Dottie Bentley, sons Allen and David, daughter Michele, and two step children, Matthew and Melanie. He leaves behind a large extended family: brothers Bob, Jerry, Thomas, and Dennis; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Services for Don Allen Ward will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 25, at Lake City Church, 6000 N. Ramsey Blvd.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Schneidmiller House at North Idaho Hospice, 2290 W. Prairie Ave, in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.