Donald E. Wilhite

Donald Eli Wilhite was born on July 31, 1934, to Earl and Carrie Wilhite (Ziegler). Don was the youngest of 7 boys. The family lived on a farm just east of Corwith, Iowa. Living on a farm during the Great Depression, the family made the best of what they had and shared the workload to provide for each other. This included an old hand crank ice cream maker. The boys would take turns cranking until the cream was just right. The evening would often end with an ice cream eating contest and a few upset stomachs.

When Don was just 12 years old, he attended Bible camp along with his brother Jim. His mother wrote in her Bible that Don accepted Jesus as his personal Savior on June 20, 1947. Don was baptized on October 19th of that year by Mr. Frank Peterson in the Corwith Baptist Church.

Don graduated from Corwith High School with the class of 1954. Using his good sense of humor, he often joked that he graduated in the top 22 of his class. During high school Don participated in basketball as a guard and as a 3rd baseman on the baseball team. Being modest, he said he also kept the bench warm for the star players.

Taking his hard work ethic from farm training to Des Moines as a young adult, Don applied for work at A&E Dairy. A friend at church, who worked at the dairy, asked how the interview had gone. Don thought it went okay but hadn’t heard back. The friend went into his boss’ office on Monday, found the application in the trash can, pulled it out, and told the boss to hire Don. It worked and Don worked there from 1958 until 1962.

Don moved on to becoming a fireman for the City of Des Moines and worked there until 1977. On his days off from the fire station, he hauled flowers in his over-packed station wagon to Chicago and other big cities often traveling way into the night.

After retiring from the fire department and wanting to stay busy, Don drove a school bus for Des Moines and then later for Johnston. He worked as a bus monitor until he finally retired for good in 2021; but if it were up to him, he would still be working to this day. He was always such a hard worker.

Don attended the Iowa State Fair his entire adult life. Maybe to help him remember the time in 1962 when he met a beautiful young lady named Mary. Her son, Robert, introduced them after he finished shining Don’s shoes while working at the fair. Mary and Don then became a family and raised her three children, Robert, Carmen, and Tony, like they were his own. The two made memories while taking several trips to Tasty Tacos, going on vacations, visiting the Adventureland Amusement Park, and watching the Iowa Hawkeyes. Many people are left with super memories of Don. “I can’t find my shoes.” “Let’s go get a Tasty Taco.” “I just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday.” “That’s a knee slapper!” “Are you watching the Hawkeyes play?” “Meet me at the Pepsi Clock.”

He also made some of the best memories with his grandchildren. “I am working on writing my joke book.” “Life is too short to be serious all the time.” “All I ate today was pumpkin pie.” “I hope this place has good Cherry Pepsi.”

Don passed into heaven from his home that he shared with Mary for over 60 years on March 29, 2023, at 88 years of age. He is survived by his life partner, Mary and her three children; his older brother, Merle; his grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren; his many nieces and nephews; and all else who had the honor of calling him family.

Don will be laid to rest on June 23rd at 2:00 p.m. at Laurel Hill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, we are asking for donations to the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation, a non-profit organization raising funds to help preserve and improve the Iowa State Fairgrounds.

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