Donald S. Emhoff

June 8, 1954 - May 4, 2017

There will be a memorial gathering and celebration of Donny’s life on Saturday, June 10. This will take the place of a traditional funeral and calling hours, per his wishes. All friends, family, and acquaintances are invited to help us celebrate his life. Feel free to stay for the whole time or stop by to say hello. As Donny would want, dress as casually as you’d like. We would love for you to share your favorite pictures and memories of Donny (or Don, or Donald, or PBR, or any other name by which you knew him.) If you’d like, you can post your favorite pictures or memories of Donny on this website. You can also bring pictures to the gathering, and we will make a copy and mail the original back to you. Date & time: Saturday, June 10 11am - 4pm Location: Meyers Lake Village Hall 1600 North Park Ave NW Canton, OH 44708 Food and drink: Join us for a cookout from 11am through 2pm, with snacks and dessert afterward. All food and drinks will be provided. Alcoholic beverages will be available. If you have have questions about the celebration, please contact Jessica Seich at 330-413-7746 or at [email protected] Donald S. Emhoff passed early on the morning of Thursday, May 4, 2017. He was the child of Stanley Bernard Emhoff (deceased) and Dorothy Alice (Skeeles) Emhoff (deceased), and the brother of Norma Hoeflich (deceased), Linda D’Alessandro, Ruth Ann Sieber, Gary Sieber, and Laurain Emhoff. He is survived by his wife, Mary (Pfendler) Emhoff, and three children, Jessica (Kevin) Seich, David (Christie) Emhoff, and Kristen Emhoff. He has three grandchildren as well: Sydney, Savannah, and Samuel Seich. Donny was an understated guy who avoided being the center of attention. When his name was announced over the loudspeaker at Republic Steel, his employer of over 40 years, for nearly two decades of perfect attendance, he called out sick the next day to make sure his name wouldn’t be called again. But those who knew him understood how special he was. Donny was a friendly and talented guy who spent hours fixing other people’s cars and anything else that broke. He restored the house his father built, where he then raised his three children with his wife. (The house was a project with no end.) One of his favorite topics of conversation was how the current weather forecast would affect his lawn mowing schedule. He fixed dozens of lawnmowers, including an antique riding mower which was his pride. He tilled and planted a vegetable garden every spring and spent hours picking up apples that fell from the trees in the back yard. For family dinners and reunions, he was the grillmaster, holding one of his babies or toddlers in one arm while flipping steaks with the other. In winter, after he and his family shoveled their own driveway, they also shoveled the driveway of Mrs. Williams, a friend of his late mother, whose kindness he never forgot. When a strangers’ boat tipped while he and wife were on a canoeing trip, he immediately jumped in the water to retrieve the toddler and right their canoe. If there were more visitors at his home than the driveway could contain, or someone was concerned about backing into the busy traffic of 12th Street, he told them to drive and park on the lawn without hesitation-- even though he loved his grass, the safety and convenience of his family and friends was more important. He spent countless early mornings and late afternoons helping his children deliver newspapers on their paper route. When he was young, Donny raised and trained horses for 4H with his sister and friends. After getting his driver’s license at age 16, his attention was then taken by his new car. Once the novelty of the car wore off, he fixed up a motorcycle and attended rallies and rides, sporting a long ponytail, a shaggy beard, and a large metal belt buckle with an eagle on it. He drove cars in demolition derbies at the Stark County fairgrounds. After his third kid arrived, Donny toned down his leisure activities and trimmed his hair, but he never got rid of the belt buckle. He enjoyed hanging out at Tim’s Tavern and Lakeview Tavern, among other local watering holes. He liked to relax with a PBR, watch sports, chat with the other regulars, and play his numbers on Keno. At home, he putzed around in the garage and listened to the radio, usually turned to a country station. He didn’t sing often, but when he did, he had a clear, strong voice and a good ear. As his children got older, he attended as many of their choir and band concerts as he could, grudgingly putting on khakis or a good pair of jeans at his wife’s insistence. He was more comfortable at the sporting events, of which there were hundreds. When he watched his daughter’s track and cross country meets, he would be decked out in old jeans and a Perry shirt, hat, or both. Donny loved animals, including horses, dogs, cats, and other animals that he and his family kept. His children had a beloved hamster named Nibbles. When Nibbles got old, she got sick and stopped breathing one evening. Donny gave the hamster CPR and managed to resuscitate it. When it finally passed, he teared up and comforted his kids. When Republic Steel closed in the early 2000’s, Donny decided to get his GED. When he encountered algebra for the first time in a study booklet, he approached his youngest kid, who was in high school at the time, to ask, “What’s with all this x and y bull s---?” In one evening session, he not only picked up enough algebra to pass the GED, but was solving systems of equations on his own. Donny was an optimistic guy who saw humor even in hard times. After he was diagnosed with lung cancer, he managed to get through radiation and chemotherapy, even though his doctor gave him slim chances of surviving. After he was hospitalized and bedridden, he declared that he loved his catheter because he could drink unlimited coffee and never get up to pee. When his doctor told him one of his lungs was dying and that his time was limited, Donny reasoned that he still had one decent lung left, and maybe he could stick around for a few more years with that remaining lung. Donny’s humor, intelligence, and big heart will be missed by his family and friends. We did not get as much time with him as we wanted, but we are better for the time we had. We love you.