Donald Harry "Don" Stearns

April 14, 1924 - October 23, 2020

Donald Harry “Don” Stearns, age 96, of St. Ignace, Michigan, passed away October 23, 2020 after never fully recovering from a stroke in August. He was born on April 14, 1924 to Harry and Grace (Fudor) Stearns in Grand Rapids. Don grew up on Ashman street and relayed stories of the neighborhood group of kids he used to play with. He attended Ottawa Hills High School for two years, worked and wrestled while in school, then moved to Detroit to take a welding apprenticeship at a River Rouge factory. In his youth, he had a paper route for the Grand Rapids Free Press, worked as an elevator operator for the Pantlin Hotel, and served ice cream and soda as a soda jerk. He was drafted into the US Army for World War II and served in the Pacific with time in Australia and New Guinea. During the war, he contracted malaria and suffered a broken leg. He returned stateside to recover and was honorably discharged as a corporal in 1946. During his recovery, Don learned that his only brother, Douglas Stearns, was killed in a P51 Mustang mid-air explosion eight days after the war ended in Europe while on a routine transit flight in Germany. Upon discharge, he used the GI bill to enroll in Davenport College and earned a degree in accounting. He had a love of accounting and soon found himself in audit and accounting roles to metal and tool and die firms in the Lansing area. Don’s greatest passion was ski racing. Even as a teen, he and his friends would walk up local Grand Rapids hills and race through the trees in a park near their neighborhood. He carried this passion forward after the war and was one of the founding and lifetime members of the Caberfae Ski Club. He volunteered his time to help cut some of the first trails, build the club house and served as treasurer of the club. He found himself slalom racing weekly, making yearly treks out west with his friends, and even left a professional accounting job in the early 50’s to spend the winter in the mountains. He had always thought of relocating to Utah for skiing and work and was exploring options when another opportunity opened. While at Caberfae, he was approached to take on the Comptroller job for the Mackinac Bridge which was just gaining political approval. He moved to St. Ignace and jumped into this new life and helped bring to fruition, the most iconic structure in the state. He loved boating in the straits and mostly navigation. He would go out into the fog banks to practice his navigation skills in his 16” wooden Thompson. Some may recall the time he beached the craft on Graham point, just off his compass setting by a few degrees. While taking lunch each day at the Glass Kitchen in St. Ignace, he met Elizabeth “Betty” Della-Moretta, the proprietor of the diner. They began dating, and eventually married. They bought their beautiful piece of property together on the Straits of Mackinac from the railroad and engaged an architect to create their home overlooking the Mighty Mac. Don left the bridge a few years later and began working for Alpine Construction for a short time but he ultimately joined the Michigan Treasury Department and worked through full retirement as an auditor, where he was assigned large portions of the Upper Peninsula under his audit management. He spent many weeks crisscrossing the U.P, and his wife used to joke that, “Don knows every single donut shop in the Upper Peninsula.” He had an insatiable sweet tooth, particularly always on the hunt for the perfect pie. He raised a family and they had two boys: John and Joe. While he spent time on the road during the week, the weekends were active keeping his boys busy with tree planting, wood cutting, and general house and landscape maintenance. He planted every tree on the lot himself, or with help from his sons, mostly trees he found somewhere, dug up, and transported back to home in the back of his sedan. He’d comment in his later years how enjoyable it is to look out on the lawn to see how the trees have grown and made their property so beautiful. He found new interests and pulled his pre-teen boys along with him exploring caves in the Eastern U.P and allowing them to participate in the first mapping of the Hendrie River Water Cave. Many weekends were spent in the woods nearby, camping and spelunking. He was a member of the National Speleological Society and Michigan Karst Association, and while he didn’t get formal credit, he brought the Michigan Karst members to a new cave that he and his boys discovered, to be later mapped and named Kochab. After many of these weekend gatherings, Don and Betty would host the MKA cavers for homemade pizza pies before they headed back down state for work. Don was getting back into competitive ski racing after his boys grew up and discovered a love of mountain bike racing. He trained daily, and his wife would comment that someone called to let her know they saw him some 35 miles from town, and he would probably be home after dark. He was making a name nationally for racers over age seventy in biking and skiing, when his wife became diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He dropped everything to care for her and was hit hard when she passed after a three-year battle with the disease. A few years later, he was active again ski racing at Nub’s Nob a couple of nights per week, and genuinely loved the social aspect of the league as much as he enjoyed crashing gates twice weekly. He skied competitively until the age of 86. Don could be described as independent, tough minded, or persistent, and there was no, ‘do it yourself task,’ he was afraid to take on. Many in the community knew him as the sweet old man who enjoyed a bowl of soup and pie at the truck stop, a coffee and paper at Burger King, or an espresso or coffee from the Holiday at midnight. Don lived independently on his own well into his 96th year. He is survived by his boys, John, and Joe (Karen) Stearns; and their children, Haley, Michael, and Camille Stearns. He is preceded in death by his wife of forty-seven years, Betty Stearns; his parents, Harry and Grace Stearns; and his brother, Douglas Eugene Stearns. Visitation will be held on October 28, 2020 form 4:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. at Dodson Funeral Cremation Burial Services, 240 McCann St, St. Ignace, MI 49781. In lieu of flowers, the family would like donations to be made to the American Cancer Society or Della-Moretta Nursing Scholarship fund - Mackinac Straits Heath System, C/O Shannon Doran, 1140 North State Street, St. Ignace, MI 49781 R. Galer Funeral Home in Pickford, Michigan is serving the family. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.rgalerfuneralhome.com.