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Donald passed away suddenly on Apr. 23, 2008 of natural causes.
He was a full time chemistry teacher at Diablo Valley College,
from its second semester in 1951, until he retired in 1995. He
then taught part-time from 1996 to 2007, thereby having instructed
56 years of students. Don was the first Division Chair of Physical
Sciences Math and Engineering, on the Community College State
budget committee and department chair in Chemistry many times.
He was an avid basketball player on the DVC Faculty team and in
a men's reading group for about 55 years. He was a WWII vet. He
had a BA from UC Berkeley and a MS of Science Teaching from Cornell
University. Don was born Aug. 26, 1925 in Jackson, CA into a 49er
gold mining family. His great grandmother, Daniel Boone's niece,
California Real, was the first baby to be born in the mining camps
of California. Some of his ancestors took a boat from New York
to Nicaragua, which they traversed on foot, before the Panama
Canal was constructed. After arriving in San Francisco, they walked
to Angels Camp, carrying with them everything they owned. Yet
other 19th century ancestors of his lived at Sutter's Fort and
adopted some of the surviving children of the Donner party. Don
lived in Bodie, CA, the lawless, wild, gold mining town, now a
ghost town, as a young child. After his gold miner father was
in a mining accident, his grandparents raised him. He grew up
without electricity, running water and never spoke on a phone
until he was 20 years old. Don was also a man of the land, single-handedly
managing, even until the day he died, three ranches, 100 sheep
and a horse, irrigating 20 acres six months a year, often awaking
at 2am to change pipes, pruning 60 fruit trees and tending to
the sacredness of the earth. His wife, Cheryl Dembe, a DVC chemistry
department colleague, survives him. August would have been their
25th anniversary. Don is also survived by his children, Mary Gonzales,
Virginia Wisyanski, Sabrina Brunner and David Brunner, his grandchildren
Frank, Richard and Risa Gonzales, and his seven great-grandchildren,
Joshua, Erika, Zachary, Jake, Kendelle, Alexandra and Isabella
and three nieces whom he helped raise. A Memorial Service will
be held at DVC in the Trophy Room, 2pm on Sat., May 24, 2008.
Donations can be made to the Don Brunner Memorial Scholarship.
Checks can be made out to: The DVC Foundation, 321 Golf Club Rd.
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Published in the Contra Costa Times on 5/11/2008.
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