These are just a few titles held by Don.
Born Nov. 1, 1945, he was the youngest of 12 children for Rufous Gorden and Mary Angeline Pruitt of Glenwhite, West Virginia. After being the only one of his siblings to graduate high school, Don joined the Army. After a tour of duty in the jungles of Thailand and Vietnam, Don returned to the states to be stationed in El Paso, Texas. After some "happy-to-be-home" galavanting, Don enrolled in Med Tech school on the base. It was here that he met the love of his life, a beautiful young X-Ray Tech, Cheryl Andor.
After the birth of their first son, Steve, they were discharged from the Army and moved to Cheryl’s home town of Hay, Washington. Don learned to drive a tractor and combine, and having never been on a working ranch, he decided this was not for him. They moved to Spokane and he enrolled in lab school at Gonzaga University. During this time, they welcomed Mike, Jason, and Michelle into the world. His new degree would eventually lead him to Port Townsend.
He was Scoutmaster, Coach, Teammate, and a valued Laboratory Technologist for more than 40 years. In 2019, through the miracle of Ancestry.com, he became a father once more (remember the galavanting), meeting his son Ben Roberts. Unfortunately, COVID-19 and an unforeseen accident cut short their time to get to know each other. After a hard fought 67-day battle with a nasty infection, Don passed away at the far too young age of 77.
He leaves behind his four sons Ben, Steve, Mike, and Jason; his daughter Michelle; grandchildren Tyler, Madison, Ryan, Taylor, Aschlynn, BrookeLynn, McKinley, and London; and his great-grandchildren Myles, and Addison. He also leaves his devoted, loving, and caring wife and life partner Cheryl, with whom he shared a deep passion for square dancing.
You will be greatly missed, Pop! A memorial will be announced at a later date.
