Donald Walter Rieck

Donald Walter Rieck, 78, of Joseph, died May 28. A memorial service was held June 5 at Joseph Baptist Church. Bollman Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Donald was born July 14, 1931, the third of six children born to Walter Gustav Rieck and Aletha Marjorie (Scriven) Rieck in Cedar Rapids, Neb. He grew up near Belgrade, Neb., where he played basketball in school and worked on the family farm. He also sold seeds for garden vegetables. In 1948, his family moved to Carmichael, Calif. He graduated from San Juan High School in Citrus Heights, Calif., at the age of 16. He went to work delivering milk for O.O. Grimes dairy in Fair Oaks, Calif., and it was there that he met his future bride, Johnnie Nell Grimes.

Concerned he might be drafted into the Army for the Korean Conflict, he enlisted for a four-year hitch in the U.S. Air Force in 1951 and also became engaged to be married to Johnnie Grimes. He served in Albuquerque, N.M., and also on the island of Eniwetok in the Pacific Islands. While home on leave from the service, he married Johnnie on May 3, 1953.

When Don was discharged from the Air Force, the family lived in New Mexico and later moved to California.

The family bought and moved into their first home in Orangevale, Calif., in 1959. Don worked briefly as a hod carrier before starting his own business landscaping and grading and lived there for 16 years before moving to Joseph. Don continued his tractor work business and later cut firewood commercially.

Don loved the outdoors and was an enthusiastic hunter and fisherman. He also picked wild mushrooms and enjoyed teaching his six grandchildren these activities. In his later years, he planted a vegetable garden each season and spent many enjoyable hours tending and harvesting the garden.

He was a member of Chief Joseph Rodeo Committee and Grace Lutheran Church.

Don had a number of health issues and underwent open heart surgery four times, which allowed him to continue his many interests. He was grateful to the dedicated medical professionals of Wallowa County for the expert care he received.

Don is survived by his wife, Johnnie of Joseph; son, Vernon of Merrimack, N.H.; daughter, Noree and her husband, Derek, of Hedley, B.C., Canada; six grandchildren; three sisters, Margaret Hensen and her husband Darrel, of Lincoln, Calif., Joan Hill of

La Grande and Judy Rieck of Sacramento, Calif.; and brother, Kenneth Rieck, and his wife, Sandy, of Astoria.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Mary Ellen Kimmel, and a son, Matthew Rieck.

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