Don was a dear friend and GREAT Dada

I first met Don 4 years ago when my daughter, Laura, was just a few weeks old. My son and Benjamin became friends at once over a train track. As the boys played, Don was drawn to Laura and cooed and fussed over her, soon giving her the nickname Laurita, which was repeated every time he saw her. I saw from that day forward what a devoted father he was to Benjamin. They were a team, and we spent many play dates at both Family Resources and in local parks throughout the city these past 4 years and I will always treasure the intellectual, deep adult conversations that took place on those days.

I can't recall when I found out that Don, like me, was from CT, but I'll never forget how that bonded us in the Midwest. Also being from CT, Don and I connected over conversations about bagels. He told me that the Co-op had the only "good" bagels in town, but they were refrigerated not fresh and he was disappointed they didn't carry poppyseed. We once had a conversation about quality chocolate, as he shared with me that he once lived a stint in Paris (I think). The next day he showed up at my house with a taste test of chocolate bars, Green & Black won. That was the thing about Don, he would bring up things like living in Europe in such a way that the newfound information fit into the conversation so smoothly that he kept the focus on you and not on what he just shared. He always made me feel respected and wise, because that's what he was, a person who gave his undivided attention and patience to whoever he was talking with. When I started grad school he encouraged me right up until the end, at my graduation party this past Saturday. He prided me on having a party, saying we, as people put too much focus on our failures and not enough on our successes.

Don was a man of great words and I share his own with you all...

After Alma's (Benjamin's principal) sudden death this past October Don shared these words in an email to me.

"...can't stand the fact that someone so good died so suddenly when there are so many other selfish, vicious, abusive, loathsome people who will live to see another day. the cosmic injustice of it all infuriates me. there are so very few good people in the world and we need them all desperately, especially those good people who go on to do such good things for so many others.  ...*sob*... "

Don, my friend I couldn't have said it any better about YOU.

Much love,
Daria, Bill, Cole and Laurita