Donald W. Temby

March 28,1927 - February 3, 2020

Resident of Oakland, CA Don Temby, the husband, father, grandpa, uncle and friend we loved so much, left us after a 2&1/2 year struggle on February 3, 2020, at home in Oakland, as a result of recurring strokes. ie miss his smile, sense of humor, and loving, generous nature. He is now reunited with youngest son, Christopher Lloyd Temby, who died of liver cancer in November, 2019, at age fifty-five.

Don was born in Long Beach, CA to Raymond and Rosaline Temby. He attended Carmelita Junior High and Huntington Park High School. Graduating in 1944 as class salutatorian, he joined the Merchant Marine and spent a year sailing around the world. Next, at iest Point, he broke his collarbone playing football and consequently resigned from the program. He was accepted to Stanford University and there joined the Navy ROTC. He was elected to Men’s Council, and served as president of his fraternity, SAE. At Stanford, he met his future wife, Joyce Graybiel, who was often later reminded that she pinned the officer’s bars upside down on his uniform at the commissioning ceremony.

Married on August 2, 1952, Don was mostly overseas until June of 1954. After the Navy, Don went to work for Crown Zellerbach, and was assigned to the Los Angeles plant. Daughter Claudia was born in 1956 while he and Joyce lived in La Mirada, CA. Then came a transfer to their first “foreign country”, Orange, TX, where second child, Ellen, arrived during a hurricane in 1961. They had returned to California before twins Paul and Chris were born in 1964. In 1966, the family moved to Vitoria, in the Basque region of Spain, during Franco’s years in power. Don converted to the metric system, and managed the factory-workers and staff in Spanish.

The Temby’s, back in Oakland in 1968, departed again in 1971 for two years in Vancouver, BC, Canada. Don enjoyed very local skiing and started his MBA at Simon Fraser University, finishing it subsequently, once more in California, at then-Cal State Hayward. He joined Crown Zellerbach Packaging in San Francisco, and found good friends for three-day wine-tasting outings, gourmet dinners, and Stanford football games (plus tailgates, of course!). He enjoyed fishing, loved sailing, and skied until he was eighty-two.

The last move away from California took place in 1990. Living in Cincinnati, OH, he was introduced to tornadoes and basement refuges. Before retiring, he oversaw the construction of a multi-million dollar headquarters for James River Corporation. Returning to Oakland in 1994, he brought beautiful hardwood chosen from the forest cleared for the building site, and crafted splendid projects in his garage woodshop.

He leaves to miss him deeply his wife of 67&1/2 years, Joyce Temby, daughters Claudia and Ellen (Charles Ginsburg), son Paul (Dayna Arnstein), grandchildren Michelle and Christopher R. Temby, and M. Hunter Ginsburg, along with a mini-passel of nieces. Sadly, his brother, sister, son, mother and father all preceded him in death.

ie are very grateful to our wondrous Katie, neurologist Dr. Matthew Arnold, and the Home Health and in-home Hospice professionals who eased the journey.

Don will rest in Oakland’s Mountain View Cemetery.