Donald George Van Winkle

Eulogy written by his son, Rip and read at the funeral service.

Daddy was born into a very poor family in 1915. Grandpa and Grandma Van Winkle adopted he and his twin brother, Ronald, as small boys because they needed help on the ranch. He had to work hard on the ranch from a very young age.
Some of the memories on the ranch with Daddy was that he would take me out with him on horseback to tend the sheep. I would sit in the saddle and Dad would sit on the back of the horse for hours at a time. If you have never done this, you cannot imagine how uncomfortable this can be. Daddy would also take me with him to plow and disc the hay fields. He made a place for me to stand on the back of the tractor and hang on to him. One day the tractor made a lunge and I fell off and under the set of double discs. Daddy stopped the tractor, jumped off and with one arm lifted hundreds of pounds of discs and with the other hand pulled me out.. My leg was broken in three places. He picked me up, ran to the car and drove 30 miles to town to the doctor.
In the winter when the river would freeze over, Dad would take me on my sled with my dog down the river pulling us behind him as h...[more]

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kated. How I loved that!
We had to move off the ranch because of Dads health. We moved to Seattle to be near my Mom's parents. During WWII Daddy was drafted but did not pass the physical - a very disappointed man. But he went to work in the shipyards as a pipe fitter, building and repairing ships putting in very long, hard hours there.
Daddy had to work hard with his hands and back to make a living. Looking back now, we were poor, but I didn't know it. We always had a home and food and clothes.
Daddy spent many years in Scouts with me, spending many of his weekends taking us on camping trips. He was a mentor for scouts earning their merit badges in horticulture for all the Seattle area.
He loved to fish and as the saying goes, "Would rather fish than eat". This I know for a fact with Dad. We would go to Bush Point on Whidbey Island for vacation and fish. He would get me up at 4 or 5 a.m. every morning to go up to Haps Boat House to go out fishing. We would fish until about 1:00 in the afternoon, come in eat and rest. Go back out at 3:00 and fish until dark. He loved every minute of it.
He was never a man to show affection or love to me openly, but he was always there for me when I was good or bad. I did not realize how much he loved and cared for me until the morning I left home to go into the Marine Corp. When we said goodbye, there were tears in his eyes - boy did I feel bad about leaving.
Daddy was a very independent man. I can't remember him ever asking for help. He loved to talk to people and tell stories and jokes. He had a great sense of humor right to the last days of his life.
Daddy had a lot of Cherokee Indian in him. He never talked about it much in my younger years. But on the last day I was to see him alive it came out. He told my Sis that he had asked the "Great White Father" to take care of all of his kids. He said he was ready to go and "be with his people".
Well, Daddy, I know you are up there walking the plains of the Great Hunting Grounds with Mom, your brother and all of your people. We love you.
Your loving son, "Punk"