Donald Richard Converse

Donald R. Converse passed peacefully at home on December 13, 2023 after a short illness. He
was 80 years old.
Don was born in Springfield, MA, in April 1943. His twin brother Alan preceded him by a few
minutes. The family had strong roots in New England since the time of Deacon Edward
Convers’s arrival to the Massachusetts Colony in 1630. Great great grandfather Justin C.
Converse of Bakersfield VT fought with the Vermont Thirteenth at Gettysburg.

Don’s father served in the Navy during WWII and went on to have a career in the Navy. The
family was stationed in Yokohama, Japan during the Korean War 1951-1953. The boys
attended school on the base, played in the Japanese ammo caves and roamed freely on the
streets of Yokohama without fear. Upon return to the USA they spent the remaining
elementary school years in Hamilton OH, followed by Junior High and High school in Coronado
CA, where Don enjoyed an idyllic teenage existence while earning money with his paper route
and lawn mowing jobs. The boys’ father was transferred to Fall River MA in their senior year, a
culture shock to the boys. There they played football and graduated from B.M.C. Durfee High
School in 1961.

Don attended Miami of Ohio University for two years and then transferred to Syracuse
University, where he met his future wife, Karen Holmes. He graduated in 1967 with a B.A. in
Political Science. He took a job as a Management Trainee with a major mail order house, soon
learned their system of short order scheduling, and went on to a career as an industrial
engineer consultant, working in a wide variety of industries across the U.S.A and Canada.
Don and Karen had two daughters, Wendy and Jennifer. The family lived in the Syracuse area
until 1978 when they moved to Dunwoody, GA.

In Dunwoody Don enjoyed activities in community affairs as President of the neighborhood
homeowners’ association and then co-president of the Dunwoody Homeowners Association in
1987. He was a member of the citizen groups that did feasibility studies and planning which
culminated in the formation of the new City of Dunwoody in 2009. He was also a founding
member of the Community Garden at Brook Run Park in 2009 and Chair 2012-2013.
During the Dunwoody years, the family were members of All Saints Catholic Church 1980 –
2014. Don joined the All Saints Council of the Knights of Columbus and enjoyed working on the
Lenten Fish Frys.

Don was an enthusiastic volunteer for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, working on the Opening
and Closing Ceremonies team where he was in close proximity to many of the celebrities. He
organized the Trailridge Olympics for many years of neighborhood fun during that time.

Don belonged to the Atlanta Track Club for 40 years and earned a t-shirt in each of 32 years
running the July 4 Peachtree Road Race. He ran two Atlanta marathons 1979 and 1980, many
5K and 10 K races, and volunteered as a course monitor for several marathons.
In 2001 after reading “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, Don joined the Georgia Appalachian
Trail Club. Hiking became his passion; his dream was to hike the entire 2000-mile trail, in
sections, from Georgia to Maine. After retirement, he completed all the sections from Georgia
to New Hampshire, lacking the White Mountains in NH and all of Maine. His last hike of the AT
was in 2017.

Don and Karen moved to Canton GA in 2014 to be closer to his beloved mountains. Don had
become a “trail maintainer” soon after joining the GATC and continued to maintain a one-mile
section of the AT through September 2023 when his illness prevented him from continuing. He
served as a District Manager and then “Trail Boss” of the entire Georgia section of the
Appalachian Trail 2015-2017. He also acted as a Trail Ambassador, spending overnights on the
AT in early spring to guide and advise new thru hikers who were just starting out. Don was
President of the 750-member GATC in 2020- 2022.

Upon watching the 2010 movie “The Way”, Don learned about the Camino de Santiago de
Compostela in Spain. He decided to walk the 500-mile pilgrimage of the Camino Frances from
St. Jean Pied de Port in the Pyrenees to the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela Sept – Oct
2018. This spiritual journey was very important to him and he recruited Karen and friends to
walk parts of it with him. In 2022, he recruited a group again, including Karen, to walk 140
miles of the Portuguese Camino from Porto to Santiago de Compostela.

Don and Karen were fortunate to move into the wonderful community of Soleil Laurel Canyon
in 2014. Don was well known and had many friends in Soleil. He was active in the Landscape
Maintenance Committee, Book clubs, Writing Club, Hiking Club, Soleil Men’s Cooking Club, and
the informal Beer Tasting group. He wrote a number of short stories, did readings at Soleil
Reader’s Theater and had stories and articles published in the Soleil Living magazine. He
continued to help Our Lady of Lasalette Council of Knights of Columbus with various tasks,
including the setting up and taking down of American flags at individual homes in the
surrounding area on national holidays. He was a member of the “Dough Boys”, organized by his
friend Fred Weems, distributing day old baked goods to local charities. Don and Karen spent
many happy winter weeks with Fred and Judy Weems at their shared property in Mexico.

Don was known to all for his wry wit, fun loving nature, determination, intelligence, trivia
knowledge, and kindness. He was a fan of Turner Classic Movies and dark beer. Many will
remember his signature line on his emails: “The trail goes on forever and the adventure never
ends.” He borrowed this line from an outlaw country song and changed it to suit his style. One
of his short stories was inspired by the same song.

His family loved him for his strong leadership, good advice, generosity, and the many
adventures he took them on. He always encouraged the grandchildren to focus on their
education and be the best that they could be.

Preceding him in death were his mother Hilda LaBelle Converse and his father Justin Childs
Converse. He is survived by his wife of almost 58 years, Karen Holmes Converse, daughters
Wendy Jones (Roger dec.) of Carrollton GA and Jennifer Hetherington (Donnie) of Murfreesboro
TN; granddaughters Holly Sprayberry Polk (Teron) of Powder Springs GA and Amber K. Barnes
(Jason) of Carrollton GA; grandsons John A. Campbell IV of Toledo OH and Alexander
Hetherington; great grandchildren Isaiah Barnes, Martin Barnes, Abbie Barnes, and Willow Polk;
brother Alan J. Converse (Melinda) of Colorado Springs CO. Extended family includes nephew
Peter Holmes (Libbie) of Alameda CA; nieces Christina Converse VanCamp and Lisa Converse
Sweet (Cody); great nieces and great nephews; and first cousin Frederick L. Converse (Chris) of
Central Square, NY.

Don was thankful for his family and for his many friendships in Dunwoody, Soleil Laurel Canyon,
GATC and beyond. He was especially grateful for the love, prayers and support that surrounded
him and Karen in his last weeks, especially from his best friend Fred Weems who visited every
day of his illness, his close friends and neighbors Gary Selden, Rob Kraus, and Bruce Digby who
helped with numerous tasks, his many prayer angels, and Bruce Geibel who collected a
wonderful array of pictures.

Special thanks to the Trinity Hospice nurses and chaplain as well as some very special caregivers
who watched over Don in his last days.

The funeral mass will be at 2:00 p.m. on Friday January 5, 2024 at All Saints Catholic Church,
2443 Mt. Vernon Road, Dunwoody GA 30338. Interment in the All Saints Columbarium will
immediately follow. Family and friends are invited to share remembrances at a reception in the
All Saints Social Hall following the interment.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer
Research https://lustgarten.org or Pancreatic Cancer Action Network https://pancan.org
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and
walk in it, and you will find rest or your souls.” Jeremiah 6:16