Obituary: Donald Friend

Donald Vernon Friend was born June 26, 192,4 in Charles City, Iowa, to Bert Elmer Friend and Josephine Wilhelmina Cook. 

He was the oldest of three boys. He quit high school after the Japanese Bombed Pearl Harbor and joined the Army Air Corp at the age of 18. He did not wait to be drafted, but thought it his duty to serve his country. He served  for four years as a propeller specialist and then  returned to Charles City to finish high school. He married Jean Francis Bunn  in 1947, and they relocated to Wichita, so Don could put his military training to work at Boeing.

They had four children, Katherine Kay, James Edward, Max Allen and Dan Carl. In 1965, his wife Jean died in childbirth, and he was left to raise their four children. He met and married Bernice Esther Klassen in September 1967, and they had two more children, Dean Robert and Bernice Ann.

His amazing faith in God brought him through the loss of his parents, brothers Bob and Bert, half-brother Albert, half-sister Bess, two wives, Jean and Bernice, five children, James, Max, Kathy, Danny and Dean, and one grandchild Philip Fagan.

He is survived by his daughter Ann, sister-in-law Gail Friend, 12 grandchildren, numerous great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.

Funeral service will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Jan. 27, in the Fireside Room at Grace Community Church in Newton with Pastor David Reimer presiding. Visitation will be from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday with the family receiving friends from 6 to 7 p.m. at Petersen Funeral Home. Burial will be in Springfield Cemetery north of Goessel Kansas in rural Marion County.

Memorials are suggested to Salvation Army in care of Petersen Funeral Home.

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