Donald Irvine, Jr

Donald C. Irvine, Jr. Age 84 of Macomb Township, passed away March 21, 2013. Dear husband of the late Mary Lou. He is survived by his children, Terri Irvine, Meghan Steve Avromov, Donald C. III Dawn and Paul M. Dawn. Loving grandfather of six grandchildren and his siblings, Eleanor and James.Family will receive friends Sunday 1-9 p.m.with a prayer service 7:00 p.m. at the Wm. Sullivan & Son Funeral Home, 8459 Hall Rd. 3 blks E. of Van Dyke Utica . Mr. Irvine will lie instate Monday 9:30 a.m. until time of Mass 10 a.m. at St. Lawrence Catholic Church, 44633 Utica Rd., Utica. Share a memory at www.sullivanfuneraldirectors.com We love you Dad and will miss you so very much. Don Irvine was born into a family with strong Catholic faith and values. He was the son of Donald Chandler Irvine, Sr. and Ada Galorneau, and had wonderful siblings including Jim wife Marilyn, Jean husband Jim and Eleanor. He is a proud alum of St. Matthew grade school, De LaSalle High School, and the University of Detroit. He served in the Army in the 50's stationed in Ft. Bliss, Texas. After returning to civilian life, he met Mary Lou through the Starlighter group at Star of the Sea. They met and fell in love which started with a mix-up with coats with Mary Lou's dad several of us remember that story: and they were married in 1959. He worked at RC Mahon Company as a civil engineer, and then branched out on his own with his drafting work and Irvine Home Improvements. Don and Mary Lou bought their first house in Harper Woods. Terri was the first addition to the family and Meg followed shortly thereafter. Soon, Don realized that the family was outgrowing the house so he blew out the roof and added a second floor. With more room came more kids, Don & Paul joined the family shortly thereafter. Life was good in Harper Woods, but Don had the itch to build some more. Another addition was not enough. This time he went for the whole enchilada, building a house. After selling on Woodmont Don moved the family to Grandma Torzewski's while our house on Anita was being completed mostly by illegal child labor... : Before long, our home on Anita was done. Don & Mary Lou were happy. They celebrated the Bicentennial in 1976 in grand style making the family dress up in ridiculous red, white and blue clothing... Along the way, Grandma T came to stay with us. Don had made the house big enough for three generations. As the children left home, it was time to move north. The itch to build again manifested itself in Clinton Township on Bonkay. Through it all, Don supported his family and provided a solid moral foundation that Mary Lou lovingly built on. The family was brought up with strong Catholic values. He led a simple life, but enjoyed Apple Pancakes at the Pancake House in Grosse Pointe, playing volleyball, playing Bocci ball, walks along the beach whenever he was by the water, and holiday celebrations with family. After the children were on their own, Don & Mary Lou enjoyed some travel down south and out west. They enjoyed going to Florida with her sister, Trudy & husband Bob and the Torrey relatives in Arizona. Then grandchildren started coming on board too. Don taught his first two grandchildren, Jason and Matt, the finer points of using a hammer and nails, and shoveling the snow. Papa supplied lots of shoes for Courtney to practice her newest skill. Papa resurrected the toboggan slide for another generation of fun, and took them on some wonderful camping trips. "Your sense of humor would always light up the room and you taught us so much in our childhood. We will always remember you, Papa." Sadly, in 2003, Mary Lou was called Home too soon at least for us. Don had his own challenges heart attack, bypass surgery, but continued on bravely with no complaints. He did volunteer work through Meals-On-Wheels and tried to stay busy. He was happiest when he had something to do... usually helping others. Parkinson's started to show its symptoms and he slowed down a bit. He stopped building whole houses and was content helping his children build their own. He continued on and did all he could to the best of his ability. Finally he reached the point where it was difficult to continue living alone. He was lovingly welcomed into Don, Dawn and Kameryn's house, which he helped build, to become the next 3-generation household. Here, he enjoyed playing Sorry and Dominoes with Kameryn and kept warm by the occasional fire in the fireplace he was a fire bug just like his son. He also helped out with gardening and taking Goldie for walks. Don was a loving husband, a great father, and a pretty awesome Papa too. We shall all miss him so very much. Rest in peace Dad. Thanks for being a wonderful father, and give Mom a kiss for all of us.