Donald Vitie Winslow

  General Notes:

Donald Vitie Winslow was born on February 18, 1926 in Worcester Massachusetts, the youngest of five children born to Joseph Anthony Winslowskas (Lithuanian name, which was changed on the boat coming over to Winslow) and Danucelle (nee Rapkevicz). His siblings were Lenore, Arnold, and twins Florence and Joseph (Joe and Flo). His father was born Feb. 2, 1881 in Kaunas, Lithuania, and his mother was born in Feb. 14, 1884. They were both naturalized citizens in 1906. Don's birth certificate was in Lithuanian, and shows him as Danielle Vituatus Winslowkas, but he Americanized the name later. Joseph was a carpenter, trained as a machinist and tool and die man.

Don dropped out of school and ran away from home at 16 and tried to join the U.S. Navy, but was rejected because he had a hernia. During WWII, the eligibility age for Navy recruits was lowered to 16. He was told to get his hernia fixed and apply again, so he worked at Boston hotels, working the elevator and as a bell hop, to raise money for the operation. He saved his tips and wages - many of the swing bands of the era played at the hotel and they were pretty generous (except for the "loudmouth" Martha Raye, who was a lousy tipper and a rude "broad" by his account. He went to Boston General, where they operated on him and he recovered. He enlisted in the Navy in late 1943 and his first (and only) assignment was to the USS PC 1179, a sub chaser that launched from New Orleans on Jan. 22, 1944. The ship was part of MacArthur's fleet in the Pacific. They were also used to guard harbors of the small islands the U.S. took from the Japanese. It was dangerous duty, as Japanese frogmen would creep onto the boats in the middle of the night and kill anyone on board. Don met Virginia, a beautiful girl, in Boston at the end of the war. When discharged from the Navy, he decided to enlist in the Air Force, as it was easier on families - there were no lengthy assignments at sea. They became parents to Kathleen, then hastily married. Their son John was born a year later, and another son, Ralph, several years later. The family was stationed in France, Kansas, and California over the years. However, they divorced in late 1959-early 1960 as Don was stationed in Alaska. He also got his GED.

Don met Grace Welsh in 1960 at the Jet Bar just off base. They married on July 1, 1961, and their daughter Ethel was born Oct. 12, 1961. The lived in base housing until Don's retirement from service in 1964, when they bought the house on Cotton Rd. in Chesterfield Twp. Six weeks after moving in and beginning to fix it up, an F-4 tornado ripped through the area and did substantial damage to the house. However, they fixed it up themselves and lived at the address the rest of their lives. Their daughter Elaine was born Nov. 30, 1965.

Don worked at Detroit Testing Labs in the mid to late 1960s, then was made the Building Inspector for Chesterfield Township, where he worked until the mid-1970s. He went back to school and got an associates' degree and became a real estate agent. He also went to work for a real estate development company in the late 1970s, as the guy in charge of residential development for projects in Troy and other places in Oakland and Macomb County.

He jumped around from project to project in the 1980s, then got interested in the flea market wholesale/retail business. At the same time, he devoted quite a bit of time in the Lions Club, moving up the ranks and founding two clubs (New Baltimore and Selfridge), moving up to District positions. He loved giving back and truly believed in their motto, "We Serve."

On January 29, 1996, Grace died, and a few months later, Don was diagnosed with lung cancer. Despite his diagnosis, he carried on each week at his flea market booth in Richmond, and kept up his duties with the Lions Club. He passed away at the VA hospital in Detroit on June 28, 1997. He was survived by his children Kathleen, John, Ralph, Ethel and Elaine, grandchildren Alex, Adam, and David (Burnett, Kathy's sons), Virginia and Nathan (Ralph's children) and McKenzie and Conner Began (Elaine's children; Conner was born 2 days before his death).

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Picture: The marriage of Grace and Donald Winslow, 1 Jul 1961.

Donald married Grace Marie Welsh, daughter of Edward Nelson Welsh and Ethel May Miller, on 1 Jul 1961. (Grace Marie Welsh was born on 16 Feb 1938 in St. Clair Shores, Macomb County, Michigan, died on 29 Jan 1996 in Mt. Clemens, Michigan ² and was buried in Bruce-Armada Cemetery, Romeo, Michigan.)