freakpowertix

One of my father's oldest friends, Charles "Ed" Donaldson, passed away on Sunday night because of an untreatable brain tumor.  Ed was a teacher/educator, like my father, & the two met over 50 years ago as California State University, Sacramento, getting their educations courtesy of the G.I. Bill.

I tried to google a photograph of Ed, but could only find this article online, in the Lake County Record-Bee:


Charles "Ed" Donaldson was born in Wellington, Texas February 8, 1931. He spent 44 years of his life in Lake County, and graduated from Kelseyville High School in 1948. He received his Master of Arts from San Francisco State College.

Ed joined the Air Force in 1950 and became an instructor of Electronics at Keesler Air Force base in Biloxi, Mississippi. He was a teacher at Ukiah High School, then became Superintendent/ Principal of Hopland High School. He was also assistant Superintendent/Business for Fall River Joint Unified School District.

Ed returned to Lake County in 1968 and became Superintendent and Superintendent/Principal of Kelsey-ville Unified School District. In 1985 he became Director of Special Classes for LCOE. In 1989 he became Assistant Superintendent Support Services for the Lake County Superintendent of Schools. The last eleven years he worked part-time for the LCOE.

Ed was very proud of the Donaldson Alternative School in Kelseyville which they named after him.

He enjoyed working on any project, including gardening, landscaping, making bird feeders, but his favorite pastime was reading, especially history.

Ed is survived by his wife Lyn (BKA Willie); son, Mark Donaldson and wife Janice; daughter Ann Barren and husband Troy; granddaughters Mary Beth Barker, Marcy Donaldson, Erin Donaldson, Lyann Williams, and Sydney Barron, nine great-grandchildren, and cousin Ken Yoakum.

He is preceded in death by his son Ross, grandmother Edna Cox, mother Betty Yoakum, and his aunt and uncle Iva and Leland Akers.

Graveside Services will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, December 20, at Kelseyville Cemetery.

My parents unfortunately will not be able to attend the services, although they did see Ed & his wife Lyn recently.  I was just wanting to pay my respects to someone who had a huge impact on the lives of so many in his community.

Charles Ed Donaldson, rest in peace...