Don's obituary
On January 29th 2022 Donald Reid Felley passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving wife and children in Lakewood Ranch, Florida. He was an awesome husband and a much-adored father, grandfather, brother, and son. Of his enumerable endearing and enduring traits, Don will be remembered for his elaborate pranks, wry and mostly age-appropriate sense of humor, self-professed athletic prowess, and abiding love for family, friends, and colleagues.
Don was born and spent his early years in Erie, PA. He graduated from McDowell High School in 1960 and received a BS in Biology from Grove City College in 1964. After college, Don served as a medic in the Army Reserve at Camp Drum, NY, and worked for Esso Corporation in New Jersey before pursuing his PhD in Entomology (1970) at Syracuse University. His return to academia put him in the orbit of one Ms. Ellen Ann Reichelt who, after some coaxing, agreed to marry him in Constantia, NY, in 1968.
Soon after graduating from Syracuse Don took a job with the Rohm and Haas Company in Philadelphia, where Ellen gave birth to their first son, James Raymond (1970). Don was transferred to Toronto, Canada, where Ellen would willingly (according to some accounts) give birth to two more children - Christopher Todd (1972) and Allison Jane (1974). By 1975, Ellen convinced Don (or vice-versa) that three kids were enough, and it was time to go international - first to Bangkok, Thailand, and then Jakarta, Indonesia. By the end of the Indonesia tour, in 1979, the family returned to the US for a five-year "home leave" in Walnut Creek, CA.
Despite their love of life and friends in California, wanderlust got the better of Don and Ellen, and by 1984, Don was working for the FMC Corporation in Manila, Philippines. As Regional Director, Don traveled often but when home dedicated all of his time to family. Don's love of sport and physical activity continued in the Philippines where he excelled at squash and tennis, tinkered with golf and duckpin bowling, captained his own small ocean-going vessel, attempted to ski on water, and inhaled enormous amounts of compressed oxygen underwater. If he and the family were not in or near the ocean, they were at the Manila Polo Club competing in one sport or another (but not polo, interestingly).
In the mid-80s, amidst political turmoil in the Philippines, the kids were sent to various boarding schools in the US. Seizing the opportunity, Don and Ellen quietly relocated to Brussels, Belgium where Don was FMC's Director of Europe and North Africa. The kids eventually found them and persuaded them to take another "home leave" to Philadelphia that turned into a "home stay." Don remained with FMC for another three years. In 2000, he started his own consulting company, dabbled in real estate, and played the stock market with his kids' inheritance.
In 2013, after years of Ellen's subtle and not-so-subtle prodding, Don agreed to consider a life in warmer climes, fewer seasonal changes, less topographical complexity, and endless golf, beach, and fishing options. They would eventually fall in love with and move to (perhaps not in that order) Don's final home in River Wilderness Golf and Country Club, Parrish, FL.
Don lived a remarkable life and will forever be missed by Ellen, his family, and friends of all stripes and colors.