Donald Ryan

Donald Paul Ryan was born on January 23, 1932 in Watertown, Wisconsin. He passed away on June 6, 2022. Don is preceded in death by his wife and sweetheart, Joan; his parents, Joseph and Olga (Hordoval) Ryan; and his siblings, Joe, Frank, and Loretta. He is survived by his children Linda (Ross) Kudlick, Sande (Dave) Doss, Steve Ryan, Karin (Dominic, deceased) Furio, Chris (Bill) Smead, Ken Ryan, Suzanne (Jim) Kerr, Judy Ryan, and Donna Ryan. He also leaves behind 15 grandchildren Dawn, Jennifer, Jeremy, Nicole, David, Jason, Kait, Samantha, Vicki, Laurel, Shannon, Stephanie, Tyler, Anna, and Ryan and twenty great-grandchildren.

Don was a good provider for his family, working as a mechanical engineer until his retirement. Don was also a consummate handyman. A few of his projects included creating bedrooms from a play area to provide enough bedrooms for his family, renovating a kitchen, and building a ramp from the garage into the house. He also loved restoring antique Buick cars. His two favorites were his 1955 and his 1931 Buicks, which he rebuilt from scratch. He and Joan also belonged to a bowling league. While Don was a man of few words (probably because he couldn’t get a word in edgewise with 9 children), he had a wonderfully sassy sense of humor, which he kept until his last day with us. Lucky us to have known, loved, and be loved by somebody like him.

Visitation 10:00 am until time of service 12:00 pm on Saturday, June 11, 2022 at the Countryside Funeral Home and Crematory, 950 South Bartlett Rd (at Stearns Rd), Bartlett. Following services, cremation will be private at the Countryside Crematory.