Naetzker, Donald P.

Donald P. Naetzker

Fairport, New York

Born on June 18, 1926

Passed on December 6, 2018

 

 

In Celebration

Don is survived by his loving wife of 67 years, Dorothy; children Cara (Ben) Meyers, Donald Naetzker II, and Martha Aho; grandchildren Kate (Keith) Emery, Matthew (Meredith) Meyers, Hayden Naetzker, Hannah Naetzker, Dylan Naetzker, Kiara Naetzker, Jennifer Aho and Jon Aho III; great grandson Fletcher Meyers Emery; and many nieces and nephews.

Calling hours will be 11am – 1pm on Saturday, December 15, 2018 at the Richard H. Keenan Funeral Home (Egypt location), 7501 Pittsford-Palmyra Road, Fairport, New York.  A service will immediately follow at the same location.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research; Michaeljfox.org.

Family

Don Naetzker was the consummate family man.  Married 67 years to his loving wife Dorothy (Dott), he cherished his parents, siblings, children, grandkids, and great grandson.  He loved his family equally, whether it was his own kids, the adoption of his brother-in-law Ernie Manske as his own brother, or his kind treatment of his aunt-in-law, Tanta.  Henry and Hattie Naetzker were Don’s proud parents.  He cherished their love and returned it with faithful visits, weekly phone calls and acts of love.  Equally, Don loved his siblings.  His older brother Henry (Hank) and his wife Rose took off for the south and raised two lovely nieces, Cheryl and Cathy.  Pauline (Poo) was an institution in Dunkirk, NY and the mother of four additional nieces and nephews – Karen, Linda, Nancy and Gary.  Her husband, Jimmy shared a passion for art, antiques and pipes with Don.  His sister, Dorothy, lived ‘down the road’ in Palmyra with her husband Ernie where they raised Don’s nieces and nephews, Tad, Jani and Kurt.  Don became a favorite ‘Uncle” to many of his nieces, nephews and their children.  In a show of his sincerity, Don worked tirelessly with his siblings, nieces and nephews to document the Naetzker family tree.  His love of genealogy was inspired by his commitment to family.

Don and Dott raised three children of their own – Cara Meyers, Don Naetzker II and Martha Aho.  Although the three left the nest and moved to Boston, Maine and Arizona respectively, they all returned to raise their own families close to their parents.  Don’s grandchildren, Katy Meyers Emery, Matthew Meyers, Jennifer Aho, Jon Aho III, Hayden Naetzker, Hannah Naetzker, Dylan Naetzker and Kiara Naetzker were blessed to grow up knowing and learning from Don.  And very blessed, in the days before Don’s passing, he was able to meet his first great- grandchild, Fletcher Meyers Emery.

 

 

His love for both family and friends was blurred to the point that it was hard to distinguish between them. Cara’s husband, Ben, had a special relationship with Don, sharing adventures through travels to the Yucatan, antiquing in the UK and New England, and a passion for the lake (and Blue Whales at the Boat House).  Extended family included the Knee family, in Watford, England.  Don met Ron Knee, a pilot in the Royal Air Force, during WWII training. His friendship with Ron and his wife Anne forged lifetime connections continuing on through the next generations of Knee and Naetzker children and grandchildren. He figuratively adopted Geoff Robillard, one of his 5^th grade students, as his own.  Don mentored, cared for and then learned from Geoff during difficult lifetime periods and Geoff and his wife Jean returned that love with loyal friendship and support. Steve Kinney, another former student, moved to California, yet maintained such a strong relationship that Don was chosen as Steve’s best man in his wedding.  Don’s Wednesday night ‘shop-night’ group included Paul Lopez and Jack Welch, who were like uncles to Don’s kids.  And of course, there was his favorite breakfast and lunch joints.  Scott Donnelly’s restaurant and the incredible staff there became Don’s home-away-from-home and one of his second families.  In Don’s mind, his friends were family.

Profession and Interests

Also blurred, were Don’s passions and career.  He loved his work so much that for him it was play.

After graduating high school in Dunkirk, Don served his country in WWII, earned his teaching degree from Fredonia State and then a Masters in Education from the University of Rochester.  Don began his career teaching 5^th grade at Indian Landing School, before moving to Johanna Perrin School in Fairport.  He was a consummate educator and had a knack for engaging students – whether he was demonstrating the firing of an 18^th century rifle, assembling custom slide shows or teaching television broadcasting.  Early in his career, Don decided to merge his photography and media passions with his interest in inspiring student learning.  He convinced the Fairport School District administration to create an ‘Instructional Materials Center’ (IMC) and to put him in charge.  Don created an in-house service center that provided printing, binding, packaging and other services to the District.  He took over an old maintenance building and turned it into a tv broadcast studio, multi-screen media center and a full-scale production facility.  He was on the cutting edge of student- centric learning.  Don ran the District’s IMC through his retirement in 1981 at the young age of 55 to focus on his antique business full-time – which he did with passion and vigor, finally retiring at 90 years of age.

Don sailed out of Canandaigua Yacht Club for over a decade where he served on the Board of Directors and brought home many racing trophies.  But in 1972, Don purchased his slice of ‘heaven-on-earth’ on a hillside overlooking Canandaigua Lake.  The incredibly modest 700 square foot cabin was dubbed ‘Oscar’s Summer Garden’, or Oscars for short.  The cabin became a generator of memories for all that knew Don – whether they were about ‘fossiling’, boating, wiffleball-golf, hiking the Tichenor Gully, the ‘destroylet’, fireworks, the ‘gully breeze’, driving the ‘Thing’ or simply telling stories around the firepit.  Don’s soul lives at Oscars, and his remains will bless it.

Never one to sit still, Don loved to travel and explore.  In the late 1960’s, he was one of a select few that was invited to Communist Russia to share teaching styles and technologies.  He introduced his children to the wonders of the Yucatan Peninsula and Mayan ruins when it was still a place to discover.   But mostly, Don loved Great Britain.  He became intimate with the castles, manor houses, ruins, cathedrals and pubs of England, Wales and Scotland.  Part of this love was because of his passion for beauty in the landscape and for history.  Another part was driven by the friendships that he developed there.  But perhaps foremost, it was driven by the markets and antique shops that provided an excuse for spending up to 8 weeks a year traveling that countryside. Don would either bring his entire family, or hand select children to accompany him as his carters and packers.

As a regional expert in antiques, Don mentored young collectors and dealers.  He made many lifelong friendships through this passion that he developed as a blonde headed kid at the age of 12. Don authored two books, the first book offering expertise on period country furniture, and the second one titled “The Art of The Make-Do”.  Don’s ‘make-do’ collection (made up of broken antiques that were repaired or re-used creatively) was second to none – and the subject of his writing.  He practiced this ‘Yankee ingenuity’ in all walks of his life.  He built a collection of 18th and 19^th century furniture and other antiques which filled his period home and gave him great pleasure.

Don served his country as a World War II soldier in the Armed Forces.  After training in Missouri, he supported ground troops as a Corporal and served as their quartermaster in the jungles of the Philippines during the conflict.  A legacy of that service that remained with him his entire life was a friendship he made with Royal Air Force pilot, Ron Knee.  A proud Veteran, Don was able to celebrate, with his son Don, the recently completed WWII Memorial in Washington DC with the wonderful assistance of Honor Flight, a non-profit group that flew him and 80 other WWII vets for a tour and celebration.

Personality

Don was strong, right until the very end.  He never complained, and held on to his sense of humor against all odds.  He was generous, accepting and had an undeniable lust for life.  When he passed, he had his supportive family and wonderful aids by his side -, but the spiritual nature of that morning had the animals of the house (Toby the cat and Aiden the dog) rushing to his bedside to help usher his soul into his next adventure.

With Thanks

The family wishes to thank the many, many incredible friends, aides, and healthcare professionals who cared for Don over the past years. Don’s wonderful aides, that became family, several of whom were able to rush to his side at 3:00 in the morning when they learned of his passing – we thank you Jeff, Katherine, Emily, Becky, Shannon, Selena, Holly, Lissa, Kulaishi, Sharon, Pattie, Helga and others.  Also, Don, a WWII veteran, received consistent support and caring from his Veteran’s Administration home-care team, his primary care team of Dr. Wallace Johnson and Lisa, and his neurologist Dr. Frederick Marshall. The extraordinary care and respect they showed for him will never be forgotten.