| Sources |
- [S888] Social Security Death Index 1935 - Current, (www.ancestry.com).
Name: Donald T Disque
BORN: 19 Mar 1928
Died: 6 Dec 2013
State (Year) SSN issued: Pennsylvania (Before 1951)
- [S927] Obituary.
Dr. Donald T. Disque, 85
MARCH 19, 1928-DEC. 6, 2013
Donald Thorne Disque passed peacefully on Friday, Dec. 6, 2013. He was 85.
The son of Henry Bruce Disque and Grace Altha Disque, Don was born March 19, 1928, in Pittsburgh, Pa.
In his youth, Don was involved with Boy Scouts, earning the rank of Life Scout. After high school, Don enlisted in the U.S. Army and deployed to the Allied Forces’ post-World War II occupation of Korea. Eagerly accepting his government’s offer of post-service educational attainment for its veterans, Don then enlisted in the nation’s postwar need for trained scientists by entering the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a Bachelor of Science (1952) and Master of Science (1953) in the field of bacteriology.
A lifelong music lover and frequent choral arts performer, in college, Don was active in Glee Club and the Pitt Singers, where an early Pittsburgh television broadcast featured a performance by his octet, the Hemi-Demi-Semiquavers. Don was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity, and participated in ROTC and Army Reserve, receiving his 2nd lieutenant commission in 1952.
In the summer of 1953, Don moved to Frederick, Md., when he began civilian defense-related employment at then-Camp Detrick, in the physical defense department.
He and first wife, Lorraine G. Disque, wed in September 1953, and raised their family of three sons. In 1964, Don earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Maryland.
Active in the Frederick community throughout his life, Don was a Charter Member of the Catoctones, and a former member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church (and former President of the Church Council thereof). Don enjoyed hiking, bird-watching and family camping, as the family regularly undertook extended summer vacation adventures to historic spots throughout the U.S. and Canada, including notable trips to New York’s Finger Lakes, Montreal’s Expo ’67, and to Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons.
He especially enjoyed making furniture in Frederick County adult-education classes in woodworking, and became an advanced amateur photographer, even learning how to mat and frame his creations.
Around 1970, Don joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH), rising to become Executive Secretary of the Molecular Biology Study Section of its Research-Grants Division, where he counted Nobel laureates and nominees as his colleagues. He retired from government service in 1986. He married Patricia Nolan Digges in November 1990, and moved to Sterling, Va.
Possessed of a great sense of humor and kind spirit, Don enjoyed music of all genres, especially barbershop quartet singing and bluegrass; and reading world war history, especially about Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway and the Enigma codebreakers. He was an active parent in his sons’ lives, nurturing and encouraging their church, school, scouting, music and sports activities, including volunteering as a timer at Frederick YMCA Swim Team meets and assisting field preparation and concession stand duty at National Little League.
In addition to his wife, Patricia, survivors include former wife, Lorraine, of Frederick; brother, David and wife, Lucy, of Escondido, Calif.; sons, Ronald and wife, Karen, of Frederick, Carl and wife, Sharon, of Braddock Heights, Md., and Tom and wife, Robin, of Harpers Ferry, W.Va.; stepdaughters, Melissa Williams and husband, Charles, of Harpers Ferry, Christine Digges-Tibbs and husband, Billy, of Fredericksburg, Va., and Jennifer Digges of New Haven, Conn.; together with (including step-) 16 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
Interment following cremation shall be at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Frederick. Friends are invited to a memorial service celebrating Don’s life, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014, beginning at 10 a.m. at the historic chapel of Mount Olivet Cemetery, 515 S. Market St., Frederick. In lieu of flowers, donations in Don’s memory can be made to The Morris K. Udall Center of Excellence for Parkinson's Disease Research at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (website: http://www.hopkinspd.com) or to the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation (website: http://www.dystonia-parkinsons.org).
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1928 - 2013 (85 years)