Donald Anthony Reeff

Donald Anthony Reeff

Donald Anthony Reeff (Don), 71 of Tacoma WA passed away in the early afternoon on February 28^th 2024, after a hard battle with emphysema and lung cancer.

Don is survived by his three children James, Richard and Elizabeth. His seven grandchildren Josh, James Jr, Faith, Emily, Addy, Mia-Michelle, Spencer and 1 great grand child Silas. He is also survived by his older brother Jim and younger sister Jacqueline as well as many other family members who loved him dearly.

Don was born in Pipestone MN to John and Mary Reeff on September 27^th 1952, but by end of the next month he and his family were rooted in Burien so his father could start work at Boeing as a machinist. Don took after his father and was very mechanically inclined throughout his life. He started out working in a gas station and later transitioned to an auto mechanic and after that he worked in bowling alleys as a pinsetter mechanic, which he would retire from. During his career, he had many bowlers that would become friends. For the longest time Don was the “family mechanic” always working on family members cars, only charging them a small fee or just having them purchase the parts. It’s hard to imagine how much money he saved everyone during his times of help.

In Don’s lifetime he was always such a helper, if he saw someone broken down on the side of the road, he would stop to see what was wrong knowing he could more than likely offer assistance. He would always try to find a way to let someone know if they had a break light or turn signal out. Don was the type of person that always acknowledged people, regardless of if he knew them or not. He would offer a bright smile as well as a “hello” with a wave or a head nod. This led others to feel as though he was their friend after a short time of knowing him

Don was a family man and would do just about anything for the people he loved. There was never a doubt that he was a caring man that loved his kids. He never thought he would have children until Richard was born when he was 39 years old, not knowing that he would find his long lost son, James when he was 66 years old. Don was always so proud of all of his children but when he told the story of finding James, he definitely lit up. Not a thing on this earth meant more to Don than his children, grandchildren and family. While growing up, one if his Aunts called him “Duck”. This stuck with him throughout his life and in his later years, he would quack at his nephews. This brought so much joy to Don’s household.

Some of Don’s favorite foods included peanut butter and pickle sandwiches, Walla Walla sweet onion sandwiches with just mayonnaise salt and pepper, noodles with ketchup, beans mixed with mac n cheese, cinnamon bears, spice drops or circus peanut candy (but only if they were soft)

If there were something simple that we could take from Don’s life here on earth it should be to show the people you care about how much you love them, smile and keep moving forward, and help others where you can.­­­­