Don died September 13, 2014, in Boise. He attended Boise Junior College and jumped at Idaho City in 1948 and 1950 before joining the Air Force. He flew the F-86 Safer Jet during the Korean War. Don completed 129 combat missions before being shot down in 1953 and was a POW until the prisoner exchange at the end of the war.

In 1955 he joined the Idaho Air National Guard and attended Creighton University Dental School where he graduated in 1959. He practiced dentistry in Boise from 1960-1993.

Don received the Air Medal and Distinguished Flying Cross and was inducted into the Idaho Aviation Hall of Fame in 2012.