Bill Mehle said:
I was friends with Don during his days as a professor at WCU. My wife and I worked in Catholic Campus Ministry at the time. We were active in the Jackson County Peace Network, which is how I met Don. Our concern about US policy in Central America led us to connect with the former Presbyterian minister in Cullowhee, Jim Hornsby, who had begun at Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Nicaragua. Don had the idea of offering a course on “Nicaragua First Hand” during which we would accompany students on a trip to Nicaragua and spend the balance of the semester studying the issues presented. Hornsby invited us to come to Nicaragua to explore the feasibility of the course, which Don and I did in 1987, which turned out to be quite the experience. When we returned and submitted the course proposal, WCU rejected it as being too risky to allow students to travel to an active war zone. The Diocese also said no to me traveling with students to Nicaragua as a campus minister. Don appealed to the university but to no avail. I appreciated Don’s passion as an educator and his commitment to pursuing knowledge as a force for making the world a better place, with a special concern for the poor and marginalized. I learned a whole lot from our time together. I learned of his passing from one of his former students at WCU. May Don rest in peace and may the goodness that he shared with many continue to shape our world for the better.