Donald Behr Marans

August 24,1930 ~ July 25, 2017

“Life is good.” Thus, went the first part of our Uncle Donald’s daily mantra. The second part of his daily mantra was, “I do what I can do and I don’t let what I can’t do bother me.” Uncle Donald held true to his mantra almost to his last breath even though for the past many years he suffered from Parkinson’s disease and underwent thrice weekly kidney dialysis.

Coming up on his 87th birthday, Uncle Donald recognized that his body systems were finally shutting down, he was growing ever weaker, and his thinking was starting to get fuzzy. On July 20, 2017, he told his long time physician, Dr. Leslie Tim, with whom he had a professional as well as a personal relationship spanning over 30 years that, “I’m tired and I am ready to rest. I don’t want any more medical treatment.” And with that, he chose to go on hospice care. On July 25, 2017, Uncle Donald passed away on his own terms. Almost to his last breath, he knew where he was and what was happening. And in the end, he still had his proverbial smile on his face.

Uncle Donald was born on August 24, 1930, in Butte, Montana, the third youngest and last surviving of the four sons of Edward and Fritze Marans. He was a member of Butte High School Class of 1948. In his later life, although living in the San Francisco Bay Area, he attended every significant reunion that his class had and kept in regular contact with his surviving classmates.

Uncle Donald studied his freshman year at the Montana School of Mines, now known as Montana Tech, located in his home city of Butte. Always a college football fan, he heard the call of the mighty Golden Bears of the University of California, Berkeley, whose teams in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s were some of the best in the nation. He became a brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity. After graduating with a degree in accounting, Uncle Donald embarked on a career working for steamship companies based out of San Francisco and Oakland. He retired from American President Lines after thirty-five plus years. He made many life-long friends at APL with whom he remained in contact.

After graduating from Butte High School, Uncle Donald, like each of his three brothers attended universities on either the East Coast or the West Coast continuing to live where they were educated. And like each of his three brothers, despite their relocation, it was said that, “You can take the boy out of Montana but you can’t take Montana out of the boy.”

When it came to numbers, statistics and dates, Uncle Donald was a savant. He could do complex equations in his head, tell you who won the American and National League batting titles each year and what their batting averages were going back to 1900, and every significant date in your life, from your birthday to your date of marriage as well as the same for your spouse and children. The last came in handy for one of Uncle Donald’s favorite past-times, sending greeting cards every year to each of his family members and friends. One always knew how many cards he had sent out before he sent you your card because he numbered each card in the order it was sent. Some years the number of cards Uncle Donald sent out exceeded 250.

Family and friends were the most important things in Uncle Donald’s life. Everyone who knew him remembers his kindness, his thoughtfulness, and perhaps most important, his beautiful smile. Close your eyes, and you will see the smile on Uncle Donald’s face and you will find yourself smiling.

Donald was predeceased by his parents, and his brothers Avron, Wesley and Eugene. He is also survived by his nephews and nieces Michael Marans (Terri), Debi Parkhurst (Stan), Lisa Hamed (Rida), Beth Marans (Brett Lonker), Julia Marans and John Marans and his great niece and great nephews, Rachel and Jonah Lonker, Ali Hamed, Jay Marans and Landon Marans Davis.

Donald has chosen to be buried with his brothers Wesley and Eugene at the Garden of Remembrance Cemetery, 14321 Comus Rd., Clarksburg, MD. Graveside services will be held on July 31, 2017, at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Congregation B’nai Israel, c/o Joel Broudy, 66 West Park Street, Butte MT. 59701.