Donald C. English

            January 12, 1913 ~ November 16, 1986

   Don English was born on Jan. 12, 1913, one of 11 children of Nebraska dry land farmers Edward and Martha (Winslow) English. He was educated in Overton, Neb, then attended Kearney State Teachers College in Nebraska.

    He intended to be a teacher and was working his way to Seattle when he landed in Coeur d’Alene in 1935. Short on funds, he took a job selling Fuller Brushes door-to-door while attending North Idaho Junior College.

    He wasn’t happy with door-to-door sales, so applied when the Cassidy Funeral Home sought an apprentice mortician.

    The business so fascinated him he gave up his plans to become a teacher and enrolled in the School of Mortuary Science at the University of Minnesota.

    English married Grace F. Reed on June 8, 1940, in Coeur d’Alene. He stayed with Cassidy until 1941, when he opened English Funeral Home at 703 Lakeside (in a building that later became the city library). In 1945 he acquired the mortuary of the late Ralph Mooney on Fourth Street in Coeur d’Alene. The present mortuary on Fourth and Harrison was completed in 1962. In 1973 he built the first funeral home in Post Falls.

    "He was a prince of a guy," said the Rev. Myron Sharrard, a retired Methodist minister who worked with English many times.

    English was well known for his memory for names and faces and his sense of humor. He was the unofficial jester of the Coeur d’Alene Rotary Club, often called upon to enliven a meeting with a joke or witticism.

    He was also a respected horseman who for years joined other Inland Empire riders in an annual mountain trek.

    English was a member of the Coeur d'Alene Rotary, Masonic Lodge, IOOF, Coeur d’Alene Elks, Coeur d’Alene Eagles, Scottish Rite, Coeur d’Alene; and Calam Temple Shrine, Lewiston, the Kootenai County Saddle Club and the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Posse. He was the former president of the Coeur d’Alene Kiwanis Club. He was a member of the National Funeral Directors Association, National Selected Morticians, and Idaho State Funeral Association.

    Survivors Include his wife, Grace, at home; sons Edward A. English of Livermore, Calif., George P. English of Hayden Lake and Bruce A. English of Post Falls; brothers William of North Platt, Neb., George and Dale of Coeur d’Alene, and Dwight "Tony" of Denver; sister Doris Nelsen of North Platt; three grandsons and three granddaughters.

    Funeral Services were held November 19, 1986 at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church. Burial at Forest Cemetery, Coeur d’Alene, ID.