Don Robert Underwood, 82, died peacefully at home April 19, 2005. Born August 8, 1922 in Nogales, Arizona to Timothy Irve and Ellen Christine. He is survived by his children Mark, Kris, Cele, Page, Beth, Ross and their mother, Billie Jeanne, and six grandchildren. He is also survived by brothers John, William, Gerald, three nieces and two nephews. His brother, Allan Underwood, preceded him. He retired after 42 years from “the telephone company” (Mountain Bell) where he developed lifetime friendships, especially Hal Cunningham, Jon Smith, and Wally Macafee (Glenda). Services are private. Memorial donations can be made in his name to your favorite charity.
2000s
Sketch for World Trade Center Replacement (2002)
It was with an engineer’s “Let’s fix this” kind of thinking that Dad responded to the destruction of the World Trade Center towers with a sketch of his own. Though he would be completely unsurprised to learn that the replacement ultimately did not open until June of 2014, and represented an arduous set of compromises and negotiations, he took seriously the notion that every citizen could participate somehow in forging a suitable design. Though he had little experience with the scale of compromise that was required, or the political wrangling and anguished hand-wringing that ensued, he perhaps unconsciously sent the message that he, or his children, could made a difference even in places far removed from one’s self-important humdrum and bother.That is, with sufficient persistence and effort.
He succeeded in passing on a work ethic that likely exceeded his own expectations for his children and to this day bedevils the friends and spouses of each of the six of us.
You can read his letter and see his rough sketch.