Don M. Fechner

Don Milo Fechner was born September 11, 1929, in Kenosha Wisconsin. He was the 5th of 6 children born to Gilbert and Mabel Fechner. His parents intended to name him Milo Don, but it was reversed on his official birth record, so he grew up being called Milo. He attended Bradford High School in Kenosha, where he played football and ran low hurdles in track. When Don was in early high school, his oldest sister LaVerne started attending a Baptist church, became a Christian, and led the whole family to become believers. Since then, Don has been a faithful servant of Christ, touching many lives with his Godly example and always praising and giving Glory to the Father.

Don and his brother, 3 years older, liked to play catch with a football, but because Don couldn’t throw the football as far, he kicked it back instead, teaching himself how to punt. He became the kicker on his high school football team all 4 years and Notre Dame recruited him to kick for them after high school. Instead, he chose to join the Air Force where he learned how to maintain the communications equipment on C46 airplanes. In the Air Force he continued to grow physically, developing an arm strong enough to throw a jump pass 50-60 yards while playing quarterback on air force and college intermural football teams. Stationed in Guam during the Korean War, he was then transferred to an air base in Tachikawa, Japan. He would often travel to Tokyo to attend Gospel presentations. Later he was transferred to the Brady Field Airbase on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu closer to South Korea.

While at Brady Field he rode the bus 30-minutes weekly to the army base to attend services conducted by Chaplain Alfred Bradley whose 16-year-old daughter, Wanda, played the organ and piano. While teaching a Sunday School class that she attended, she apparently caught his eye because after his 3½ years in the Air Force, he followed her back to her home state of Texas where they were married in October 1953. He was attending Wayland Baptist College in San Antonio, Texas, and the next year transferred to Baylor University in Waco, Texas where their son Paul was born. To avoid the Texas heat, the following summer they moved to Madison, where Don attended the University of Wisconsin as a pre-med major. They welcomed their daughter Julie in 1957 and Don graduated in 1958 with a degree in psychology. As an undergraduate he began a job as a lab technician with the McArdle cancer research group. His mechanical talents were soon discovered, in particular his skills repairing centrifuges. After graduation he was hired as a full-time member of the team and worked there for 61 years, receiving an official commendation from the governor of Wisconsin. He retired in 2017 because of the need to care for his wife who was suffering with dementia. He would still stop in occasionally to see if they needed his help. Once there was a centrifuge that was not working properly and he fixed it with a little oil from his forehead. He was remembered for his “machine shop” on the tenth floor of the old McArdle Cancer Research Building at 1400 University Avenue. Don was known for a workspace crammed with repair tools and gadgets. He knew exactly where every item belonged and maximized the use of his machine shop resources. On Don’s 90th birthday, two of his long-time colleagues wrote, “It was amazing. Don was an instrumental member of the department. He shared his craftsman talents graciously with a generous, gentle attitude. He always had help to offer, he never turned away a project. In the era when lab equipment lasted, Don made it last longer. There was nothing that he couldn’t fix. When you needed an odd piece of equipment or a device to do your next experiment, Don was able to turn your crude Sharpie drawing on a paper towel into something that really worked. Everyone visiting him in his machine shop on the 10th floor of old McArdle got a smile, a kind word, and all the help they needed. Don was truly a treasure through all his years as part of the McArdle family.”

In Madison Don and Wanda bought a small house on Oak Street. A nearby RV park enabled Wanda’s parents to park near them when they visited from Texas in the summer. Their daughter Janis was born there in 1960. In spring of 1961, Don and Wanda traded the house to buy an outdated 103-acre dairy farm near Black Earth. The 1919 house needed the rock lath plaster walls stripped for him to install plumbing, septic, hot water heating, electricity, insulation and replastering. For the first few years they kept a cow for milk, a few steers for meat and baled hay to feed them. A large garden filled 2-3 large freezers providing a cheap source of healthy food for their family. Experience in his uncle’s car repair shop enabled him to do repairs on many cars, trucks, tractors and farm machinery. In 1975 he doubled the size of the house with assistance from family and friends. He dug the foundation himself with his backhoe and poured the foundation and basement walls using cement forms and an old cement mixer bought at an auction. In the early 80’s, he and Paul constructed a 40x100 foot metal building to work on his vehicles and store a plethora of tools and wood from auctions and metal cast offs from McArdle. When recycled metal became valuable, his new friend Mike helped turn the metal into a few thousand dollars. Mike has been a devoted friend, mowing, snow plowing and curbing the deer population in recent years. He was invaluable in all the work needed to prepare the farm for sale.

Don and Wanda joined Midvale Baptist Church in Madison where she played the organ and he sang in the choir, taught Sunday School and was ordained and served as a deacon. After moving to Black Earth, they made the 30-minute drive into Madison twice on Sunday and Wednesday night while their children were growing up. Don played 3rd base and catcher on the church’s championship fast pitch softball team, hitting several home runs over the years. In his mid-40’s he played basketball on a graduate student intramural team at the University of Wisconsin.

Don enjoyed hunting and taught Wanda (who was a city girl) how to shoot; she became the best shot in the family. Minutes after one season opened, he shot a 19-point buck from a tree on the farm, right through the ears. The next day it still weighed 220 pounds at registration. He put meat on the table through fishing in the summer and ice fishing in the winter on Lake Mendota without today’s warm ice fishing enclosures. One dry summer day he shot two 6 to 8-foot-long timber rattle snakes that crossed the road by the farm.

Don and Wanda invited their granddaughter Anna to live with them for a couple years while attending school. In 2000, they adopted their 9-year-old grandson, Jonathan, and home-schooled him through high school. They were blessed when Jonathan met his wife, Megan, at their church in Mount Horeb. Both Jonathan and Anna have each blessed them with great grandchildren.

For the last several years, Don has cared for Wanda and taken care of the cooking and housework when Wanda was no longer able. When his health began to fail, their daughter Julie quit her job to care for them, shouldering the primary responsibility of selling their beloved farm of 61 years and moving them into their new house in DeForest in September of 2022. Wanda was the love of his life. While in the hospital he told his daughter Julie that he wanted to get better so he could go home to help take care of Wanda. However, God’s plan was for him to come home to Himself at 11:21 p.m. on Easter Resurrection Sunday, April 9, 2023; certainly, a fitting time to bring home someone who had served Him so faithfully.

During a visit to the hospital, Paul asked and recorded his answers to some questions. This is one of the stories he told. At age 12 he was visiting his uncle’s car dealership about a mile from home and when his older brother refused to drive him home, he got into one of the cars and drove himself home. He was small for his age and as he was driving off a woman remarked, “There goes a car without a driver.” The police caught up with him when he arrived home and then told him to follow them in the car down to the police station.

The following verses aptly summarizes his approach to life:

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. (2 Corinthians 5:6-9)

He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Wanda; his younger sister, Betty Lou; his children, Paul (Angie) Fechner, Julie Szmanda, Janis Martineau, and Jonathan (Megan) Fechner; eight grandchildren; and 18 great grandchildren. Don was preceded in his death by his parents; his brother, Gilbert Jr.; and three sisters, Lavern, Irene, and Alice, who lived into their 90’s.

Funeral services will be held at 1:00 p.m. on April 29, 2023, at LIFE CHURCH, 2770 Brandywein Trail, Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. Visitation will be the hour before the service with a light reception following the service.

Don had a strong faith in God and loved the Lord deeply. You’d often hear him saying “I AM BLESSED.” He had a gracious and giving heart, was loved by many, and will be greatly missed.... We’ll see you later Don!!

All Faiths Funeral & Cremation Services of Madison is assisting the family. Online condolences can be shared at www.866allfaiths.com.