Donald Ferris, 89, Woodstock

Donald Kent Ferris, 89, Woodstock, died Wednesday, June 29, 2016, peacefully at home. 

He was born March 13, 1927, in Clarkdale, Ariz., to Gladys Dickerson Ferris and Wallace Fields Ferris. 

He remained close to his parents throughout their lives. He spent his early years growing up in Duluth, Minn., before his father took a job in Minneapolis and moved there.

He went to high school in Minneapolis. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy straight out of high school at the tail end of World War II and was in training at the Great Lakes Naval Air Station in Illinois when the war ended. After being discharged from the Navy, he enrolled at and graduated from Stanford University.

He married Ruth Anne Montgomery shortly after he graduated from college and they had five children.

He married Mary Ethel Martin in 1972. They shared 44 years together living in Arizona, Idaho, Minnesota and, most recently, at Hearthstone Communities in Woodstock.

He worked briefly for General Mills before taking a job in cost accounting with 3M where he worked until he retired.

He was a volunteer with YMCA, PTA in Edina Public Schools and Boy Scouts. He served on various committees of the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis. More recently, he attended Woodstock Free Methodist Church.

Survivors include his wife, Mary; five children, Suzanne (Neal) Bonham, Newhalem. Wash., Kent (Valerie) Ferris, Seattle, Lincoln (Margaret) Ferris, Shoreline, Wash., Laurel Ferris, Edina, Minn., and Eleanor Ferris, Seattle; four stepchildren, Kenneth Fusaro, Stacy, Minn., Carole Fusaro, Stillwater, Minn.; Bette Ann Mahood, Loretto, Minn., and Margaret (Douglas) Andrews, Woodstock; eight grandchildren, Aaron Ferris, Reed Ferris, Drew Ferris, Alex (Kashari) Ferris, Grant (Jennifer) Ferris, Asher Szachowitz-Ferris, Claire Huebler and Emma Huebler; two great-grandchildren, Joanne Ferris and Charlotte Ferris; and several step-grandchildren and step-great-grandchildren.

He was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Dick, who died in his teens; and a sister, Dorothy (Stu) Ferreira.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, July 30, at Woodstock Free Methodist Church, Woodstock.

Arrangements were by Cremation Society of Illinois.