Donald Allison Neese, beloved and cherished husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather, died April 4th, 2025, at the age of 82, of metastatic prostate cancer… just two days before his 83rd birthday.
Donald is survived by his wife, Emily; sister, Barbara (Keith) Matthews; his 3 children; Michelle (Frank) Corbin, Jeffrey (Shell) Neese, Spencer (Kimberly) Neese; 9 grandchildren, and 9 great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his 10th grandson, Donald James Corbin.
Don was born in South Gate, CA to Alexander Allison & Marjorie May (Millard) Neese, and enjoyed a wonderful childhood full of good friends, a few broken bones, plenty of football, basketball, and church softball. At the age of 19 he received a mission call to serve for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Peru for 2 & 1/2 yrs., starting Dec. of ‘61. Many of his sweet life experiences were learned here. Afterward, Don joined the U.S. Army on Dec. 7th, 1965. He served the 1st half of his 3-year service in the United States, and met his Sweetheart, Emily Joyce Curtis, who became his wife on March 3rd, 1967. She then joined him where they lived for the last half of his service in Bamburg, Germany, as newlyweds.
While raising their family, Donald worked for (McDonald Douglas) Boeing Aircraft for 35 years as a structure mechanic. There he received many awards for his quality work and helpful ideas. In between, he taught youth Sunday School classes, served as Executive Secretary (more than once), Bishop (and Counselor), on the Stake High Council, and in the Stake Mission Presidency in both Rowland Heights, CA and Highland Utah Stakes and Wards. He loved gardening and beautifying his yards, creating lovely gathering spaces where they could invite family and others over to feed them physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Family, nature, trees, plants, listening to music (24/7), studying and researching different health topics, politics, RVing and outdoor recreation, writing poetry, and building & woodworking projects, were all of great interest and enjoyment for him. Don was a perfectionist and everything he did was done just right while working “smarter, not harder.”
After the passing of his dear mother Marjorie (whom they loved and cared for in her late years), he and Emily served an 18-month church mission in Vancouver, Canada.
Following their mission, they built a home in Cedar City, UT and made close friends with many there. After learning of the return of his prostate cancer, and to be closer to family & cancer doctors, they moved north to Payson, UT, where they quickly felt love and continued support over the last year and a half, during Don’s last days of life on this earth. We want to thank you all!
Don was a fun-loving man of great integrity. He loved his family, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and his country; wholeheartedly! We are grateful that he will always be a part of us… for eternity!
A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located at 5237 West 10400 South in Payson, UT. Visitation will be prior from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at the church. Interment with military honors will be at 2:30 p.m. following the service at Highland City Cemetery, 6200 West 11000 North, Highland, UT.
1 Condolence for Donald Allison Neese
Condolence(1)
Tony Jensen says
April 10, 2025 at 6:04 amI have had good memories of Don and his family over the years. My mother (Gail Jensen) was Don’s cousin. We would go and visit his parents often in Southgate. I remember one visit was at the time that Don came home from his mission. We all sat in his families front room and he shared his slides and stories of his mission. I also remember a time when I lived in the Hacienda Heights area for a short while and I ran into him on a couple of occasions at church. Most recently, before he and Emily moved up to Payson, my wife and I had a very nice visit and dinner with the two of them in Cedar City. I was hoping to get up to see him after the move, but the cards just didn’t play out as I hoped. Bottom line…we’re family…and Family’s are Forever! Even though I haven’t really gotten to know his children…I still feel very much connected as family. May you all find the joy and happiness in a life well lived! Until we meet again, Don…