Donald Maynard Lydon

DONALD MAYNARD LYDON A graveside service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, September 3, 2020 at Glen Oaks Memorial Park for Donald Lydon, 93 of Chico. Viewing will be Wednesday evening from 5:00-7:00 p.m. at Brusies Funeral Home. Loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, brother and son; Donald left us to be with the Lord on August 26, 2020 10:40 a.m. at Enloe Medical Center. The pandemic requires certain protocol be followed by the funeral home and cemetery. Please wear a mask at all times and bring your own chair to the cemetery if you need one. Church services will not be held and there will not be a gathering after the graveside service. The grave site is near a cemetery road, so you should be able to park close by. Donald loved his church and wanted a full mass at his funeral, but due to the virus we are not able to have that for him. The family hopes to have a Celebration of Life for him sometime in the future when the pandemic is over. After the service we will have a toast in his honor with his favorite beverage Coors Lite. Donald is survived by his wife of 71 years, Joan; his children Kathleen Lydon, Vickie Johnson (Roger) and Mike Lydon (Christine); his oldest son Steve is deceased. He is survived by eight grandchildren: Kyle, Kayla, Morgan, Ryan, David, Nichole, Natasha, Joshua and 16 great-grandchildren. His first great-great-grandchild will be born in November. Donald was born November 26, 1926 to Edward and Della Lydon in Stuart, Iowa. He was raised and attended schools in Stuart. Being one of 7 children, he is survived by his youngest brother Patrick and predeceased by his siblings Rose Marie, John, Clarence, Marguerite and Delores. The family lived on and worked farms in both Iowa and Nebraska. Losing his mother at a young age, his father Edward and oldest sister Rose Marie took on the responsibilities of raising him and his siblings. In high school he lettered in four sports; Football, Baseball, Basketball and Track. He was also the honorable mention all state quarterback; and was offered a football scholarship to Boise State. He was the first player on his high school football team to have a hard helmet as he was getting knocked out 3 to 4 times a game until he started wearing the helmet. The helmet was a different color than the helmets the other players wore, his father Edward could tell it was him by the color of the helmet if he was getting carried off the field. Donald, his brothers John and Clarence were coached by their father Edward in a boxing club and they fought in the golden glove tournaments. He graduated high school in Stuart, Iowa and then with his draft notice in his hind pocket he left in 1945 for the Army. He served at Fort Max and Fort Wolters in Texas and Fort Benning, Georgia. While in the Army he was a training officer for the 75mm recoilless rifle and other fire arms. He was a member of the test platoon that tested the M1 Garand equipped with a box fed magazine that was the predecessor to the M14. Donald was on the team that demonstrated the 75mm recoilless rifle for General Eisenhower. While in the Army he won the base boxing championship for his weight bracket. He moved to California in 1946. His father and siblings also moved to California as life allowed them to make the move. All settled in the Southern California, Los Angeles area. Donald and his siblings remained a very close-knit family and all of their children were raised to appreciate the value of family and remain a close extended family to this day. He was employed in 1948 by the Los Angeles Times newspaper as a delivery truck driver. In 1949 he met and married the love of his life, Joan McCormick, his fiery red head who he met at the Figueroa ballroom in Los Angeles. In 1963 they moved their family north to Chico, and he accepted a position with the State of California as a CalTrans employee. He quickly demonstrated his value as an employee and was promoted to Foreman of the Road Crew stationed out of Oroville. He retired from CalTrans in 1985. Donald loved adventure and he and Joan owned a cabin at Lake Almanor with his brother Clarence and wife Shirley for a number of years where they loved to go skidooing in the wintertime and boating in the summer with family; he always had lots of stories about their skidoo rides. He would go deer and pheasant hunting on occasion. He loved to travel in their motorhome, and they spent 20+ years traveling the USA and spending their summers camped at Trinidad on the northern California coast, and wintering as a Snowbird in Arizona. He loved to go fishing with the other campers in Trinidad, and they developed lifelong friendships from their travels. He and Joan loved playing Pinochle with their friends and with his younger brother Patrick and wife Nancy. He was a member of the Elks in Chico and they traveled with the Elks travel club for many years. He attended St. John's Catholic church the entire time he lived in Chico. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus. He built our family home in Chico in 1963 on two acres of land with almond trees. Having been raised on a farm, he loved taking care of his land. He tried his hand at farming in northern California when he leased 80 acres in Durham to grow watermelons. They were shipped to Hawaii and many other states. He had a work shop behind their home with various wood working equipment and other projects he enjoyed working on. He loved his lawn tractor and would mow the orchard every couple of weeks in the spring and summer time. The last time he mowed the orchard was just a couple of months ago. Even when it was becoming harder for him to walk much of a distance as he got older, he would hop on his lawn tractor and do his mowing or ride it to a neighbor's house to visit. He was very social and loved to get to know the people in the neighborhood. Most important to him was his family, he was always there to help when needed. He loved all his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren very much. He was a wonderful story teller with a great memory. At the mention of Iowa, he could tell you story after story and the dates that they happened! In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in his name to Notre Dame School in Chico and sent to Bruises Funeral Home to forward to the school.