He went to the same school Kindergarten-12th Grade in the small ten of Cedarville, Michigan. His graduating class had about 24 students total. Donny was a good student with above average intelligence. He and his older brother, Ken, played for the school basketball team which made it to the State Championships at the High School level. Because they were so dirt poor, Donny also worked at a local market loading and unloading blocks of ice on and off trucks. He said the hard work made him strong and muscular, which worked to his benefit in winning many of the fist fights he and his brothers were constantly in due to the racial slurs and nasty treatment they were fished out on account of their Native heritage and darker skin color.
Following High School, Donald work for a few years at one of the Automobile Factories in Detroit, Michigan before enlisting in the United States Navy. As a kid, he’d read the family’s only Encyclopedia Brittanica from front to back several times, absorbing all the information it held about various subjects including Foreign lands. Donald wanted to “see the world” and the places he’d read about, which is why he chose the Navy over the other Branches of Military service. The Navy afforded him the opportunity to travel and see much of the European and Asian Continents. Upon discharge, the G.I. Bill gave him the chance to go to become educated to learn a trade that would not get him stuck on an assembly line in an automobile factory in Michigan.
Donny’s two oldest brothers, Mitchell—also known as “Buster” for his keen fighting abilities— had gotten married and had children right out of high school. His third oldest brother, Ken, joined the Air Force, but upon discharge, went back to Michigan and settled for a Factory job and lived the life of a Playboy until he was in his late 60’s. Donny’s younger brother, Eugene, was enrolled at Ohio State University until a knee injury sent him back to Michigan. Nonetheless, Eugene completed his education with a Bachelor’s Degree and teaching credentials from Michigan State University in spite of the fact that he, too, had married young and already had babies to take care of.
Donald was not interested in marrying young and struggling to buy diapers and take care of a family he could not yet afford. Instead, he focused on taking care of his aging Mom and looking after his younger brother Eugene. He was so proud that Eugene actually got a College Degree; an accomplishment Donny always longed for himself. Instead, he used his G.I. Bill to go to a television repair school in Chicago, Illinois.
Sometime after he had discharged from the Navy, the Korean Conflict happened and he was called back into active duty. Luckily, his ship never left the States. Instead, they were docked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he claimed to have “fought in The Battle of Broad Street.”
Donald’s T.V. Repair certification sent him to Nogales, Arizona where he was an apprentice to a generous and kind man name Penn Kanta. Penn and his wife, Mary, took Donald in as if he were a member of their Family and Donald loved, appreciated and stayed in contact with the couple until their deaths. It was in Nogales that Donald became engaged to a fiery and magnetic Mexican woman who lived across the border in Nogales, Mexico. She went by the last name of Felix and she had bright dyed red hair and a larger than life personality. Her Dad “owned” the town of Nogales, Mexico and much of Nogales, Arizona. Even though Donald was pretty sweet on Miss Felix, he backed out of the marriage because he was afraid that he, too, would become owned by the Felix’s. He was offered a job at a aerospace manufacturing company in Southern California and he jumped on it without hesitation.
Cheryl Muscoe 
