Posted by Stephen Klein on August 8, 2013:

Although Don and I were classmates, we barely knew each another as cadets and our paths never crossed in our Army careers. What brought us together was business - business and a parallel life style. We had both married German women, both spoke German and both worked in the aerospace industry. In the 1980s, when Don was head of Raytheon's office in Bonn, Germany, I worked in international marketing for the German company AEG in Ulm. He and I were part our respective companies' negotiating teams in some discussions that took place in Boston and Munich over the course of several years. It was then that we became fast friends. In addition to sharing a deep knowledge of the intersection of German and American cultures, we both had developed a love of classical music and the fine arts - perhaps unusual traits for ex-military officers. I always appreciated his keen intelligence and his sense of fairness. For me, Don was the epitome of a fine gentleman. After our retirements from industry, my wife and I remained in Munich, while Don finally settled in Lexington, Massachusetts. We continued to correspond regularly, particularly via emails, and saw one another irregularly on our visits to America and Europe and during our periodic West Point class reunions. And I recall his enthusiasm for bird-watching, a very noble and refined calling, one that fit his nature. In 1999, I traveled to Boston for a literary convention and made an appointment to have dinner with Helga and Don at a downtown restaurant. He showed up alone. Tearfully, he told me that Helga was dying. He loved her deeply and I don't think he ever got over her death. We last saw Don in late July of 2011, when he made a long and difficult trip to Europe - bidding farewell, I thought, to old friends and places. Christa and I were, of course, struck by the physical toll that Parkinson's had taken on him, but were deeply impressed by his continued mental acuity. He insisted that we visit one of Munich's museums of modern art, even though that required a real physical effort on his part. Then we shopped at one of his favorite men's stores in the city, where he bought a quite stylish Daks sports jacket. (Daks jackets were his favorites.) After that, we stopped by a small shop where he bought an elegant silver-headed walking stick to help him navigate and stay upright. On a beautiful summer's day, we drove out to a country restaurant that had been a favorite of ours back in the 1980s. That evening, we shared too many Martini cocktails at the bar of the Bayerischer Hof. And that was the last time we saw him. We both miss Don deeply and wish him all the best on his Voyage. Steve and Christa Klein

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