Donald Orris Dorman Jr.
Don Dorman, wheat rancher of LaCrosse, Washington, and husband of Ruth Ellingwood, the eldest daughter of Cudge Ellingwood and Ruth Short. Shot down over Germany in 1944, he was a prisoner at Stalag Luft I until the end of the war, then took his agriculture degree at Washington State and farmed the family's land at LaCrosse until his death in 2008. Father of five daughters.
Life
- 1922Born18 Apr 1922, Spokane, Washington
- 1946LivedPullman, Washington
In a small apartment with Ruth while he finished at Washington State College, 1946-48.
documentedprobable - 〃Married Ruth Ellingwood3 Sep 1946, First Presbyterian Church, Spokane, Washington
The place from her father's memoir ("the first of our five weddings"); the date in both.
- 1948LivedLaCrosse, Whitman County, Washington
Wheat ranchers at LaCrosse from 1948, where they raised their daughters.
- 2008Died20 Feb 2008, LaCrosse, Whitman County, Washington
At his home. His wife's obituary (2020) says he had died before her.
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Family
- Parents
- Spouse
5 children
- Private
- Private
- Private
- Private
- Private
Pedigree
Notes
Grew up at LaCrosse, Washington, and graduated from LaCrosse High School in 1940 (Find a Grave). In the Second World War he was shot down and captured in December 1944, and held at Stalag Luft I, near Barth, Germany, until the end of the war; he was awarded the Purple Heart for his injuries, stayed in the Air Force Reserves and retired a major (memorial).
In October 1945 he entered Washington State College, joined Sigma Alpha Epsilon and was its president when he met Ruth Ellingwood in her last year there. “Don gave her a big and determined rush, and she decided he was her future.” They were married on 3 September 1946 at the First Presbyterian Church in Spokane, the first of the Ellingwood children’s weddings, and lived in a small apartment at Pullman while he worked part time in the Agricultural Engineering Department and finished his degree, graduating in 1948. Then they settled at LaCrosse as wheat ranchers (Cudge’s memoir, scan 158). He sat on the board of the LaCrosse Wheat Growers.
He was the one son-in-law who saw through the family’s sponge-cake joke in 1948: “What’s going on here?” (“Don had been in the family long enough to be alert,” scan 160). Dick Ellingwood worked for him on the ranch for about six months in 1953 before going to the University of Washington (scan 164).
Their daughters, in the order of Ruth’s obituary: Gail (Mrs. Steve Seymour), Nancy (Mrs. Bob Shank), Glenda (Mrs. Brian Thie), Marcia (Mrs. Joseph First) and Joyce (Mrs. Cody Christie) (obituary).
Open questions
- His parents. As a “Jr.” he was named for his father, who is not yet identified.
- His obituary of February 2008, which would name his family; the Find a Grave page to be seen.
Cudge's memoir
Don Dorman, shot down and captured in December 1944, came to Washington State College in 1945, was president of SAE when he met Ruth, married her in Spokane on 3 September 1946, and after graduating in 1948 settled with her at LaCrosse as wheat ranchers.
He had been shot down and captured in December of 1944 and was in a prison camp in Germany until the end of the war.
p. I25 →Served the same sponge shortcake the night after Bill Lee, Don saw through the joke at once.
Don took his fork and started to work on the sponge for about five seconds, and then he said, "What's going on here?"
p. I27 →After his discharge in 1953 Dick worked on Don Dorman's ranch for about six months before going to the University of Washington.
Then he went down and worked for Don Dorman on the ranch for about six months until school started at the University of Washington.
p. I31 →