Don Harris Arenburg

Visitation for Don Arenburg will be 3 p.m. – 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at Blanchard St. Denis Funeral Home. Funeral services will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, April 8, 2011 at St. Francis Episcopal Church in Winnsboro, Texas with Reverend Edward Baggett officiating. Masonic burial rites will be performed at the conclusion of the church service. Interment will follow at Vittitoe Cemetery, Whitewright, Texas under the direction of Beaty Funeral Home. Donald Harris Arenburg passed from this life Saturday afternoon, April 2, 2011, at the Louisiana Extended Care Rehabilitation Hospital, in Natchitoches, Natchitoches Parish, Louisiana. Don was born October 1, 1924, to Harris Laurie Arenburg and Beatrice Viola Smith in Berlin, Coos County, New Hampshire. Don was predeceased by his first wife and mother of his children, Naomi Jeanette “Jean” Thomas, whom he married in January 5, 1945, at the Mission Inn Chapel in Riverside, California, died October 5, 1994; his second wife, Geneva Faye Currey Hudson, whom he married July 13, 1995, died February 25, 2001. At his death Don was engaged to Sybil McDaniel of Campti, Louisiana. Don was survived by his three children, Donna Jean and Michael Rodgers of Houston, John Harris and Peggy Arenburg of Natchitoches, and Robert Thomas and Sandi Arenburg of Round Rock outside of Austin, grandchildren, Sarah LeAnn Arenburg of Round Rock, Michelle Alina-Jeanette Rodgers of Houston, Kristina Ariana Leone Rodgers Larsen of Oslo, Norway, Brenda Lee and Wayman Pleasant of Natchitoches, Kimberly Dawn and Sammy Joe Sturkie of Rock Hill, South Carolina, and Richard Wayne and Brandy Nicole Bennett of Olathe, Kansas, great-granddaughters, Hetaya Kari Larsen of Oslo, Kalie Nicole Drago of Olathe, and Chantly Leanna Sturkie of Rock Hill, and great-grandsons, Travis Ray Bennett and Dewayne Carlton Duncan of Natchitoches. Don was a graduate of Texas A & M University with degrees in Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and was a professional Engineer with a 35 year career with Lone Star Steel in Lone Star, Texas, Kaiser Engineers in Chicago and Bechtel Corporation in San Francisco, and was Chief Electrical Engineer for West Irian Copper Mine for Bechtel Corporation and Quality Assurance Officer for the building of the Bay Area Rapid Transit system in San Francisco. Don retired in 1985 from Employers Insurance of Texas. Don was a lifelong Episcopalian, and served as Junior and Senior Wardens in churches in Texas and Illinois. He was a 32 degree Scottish Rite Mason and past master of the Winnsboro, Texas Lodge A.F. & A.M.