Donald Presley, aged 95, passed away of natural causes in Salinas, California on December 27th, 2024.

Donald was born near the very small town of Stella, Nebraska on April 11th, 1929, and spent his early childhood in various localities in Arkansas and Nebraska. During this time his parents, Otis and Fern Presley, had two more children, Geraldine and Jack, and at the outset of WWII, the family resettled in Yakima, Washington, where Donald was to spend the rest of his formative years. After graduating Yakima High School in 1947, he went on to achieve a salutatorian associate’s degree in chemistry and mathematics at Yakima Valley Junior College, continuing on to the University of Washington, Seattle, where he graduated with a bachelor’s in chemistry in 1951.

Not one to waste time, Donald enlisted in the Air Force in the summer of 1951, beginning an accomplished, globe-spanning military career. First classified as a radar observer before qualifying as a navigator, he would advance to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, deployed to bases in Texas, Mississippi, California, Oregon, Alaska, Delaware, Minnesota, Ohio, Labrador, Portugal, and Thailand. He accumulated over 5,000 flying hours, which included 40 combat missions during the Vietnam War, garnering two air medals. Donald completed his tenure in the Air Force out of the cockpit, as an Operation Plans Officer, and retired with distinguishment in 1972.

Donald met the love of his life, Ida Mae Gresham, during cadet training in Texas, and the pair were married in 1953. They would prove inseparable for the rest of their lives. Mae had two children, Wilbur and Margaret, from a previous marriage, and they joined together as a blended family through many of Donald’s deployments. This family expanded further in 1959 when Donald and Mae adopted twin girls, Donna and Diana. Donald and Mae celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2003; he remained a doting husband until her passing in 2010 and devoted himself to her memory thereafter.

Following his retirement from the Air Force in 1972, Donald set himself to an ambitious course of study, becoming a Doctor of Optometry in 1977. The family resettled in Salinas, California, where Donald rapidly established an enduring presence in the optometry world, starting his own thriving practice and steadily expanding throughout the Salinas Valley. Donald was elected the president of the regional optometric society in 1987 and maintained a guiding hand on the profession until his final retirement in 1999.

All the while, Donald was deeply involved in the Salinas North Lions Club. The Lions community and its philanthropic endeavors were deeply important to Donald—he served terms as president of his club, Zone Chairman, and finally Region Chairman, overseeing 10 chapters and earning many accolades. Donald and Mae also traveled widely in the 1990s, visiting England, Hawaii, China, Australia, the Mediterranean and the Baltics, among other world locales.

Throughout his long life, Donald unvaryingly demonstrated his intelligent, industrious, and broad-minded character, setting a sterling example for friends, family, and colleagues. He was a rock to all of us blessed to share his time on this earth. His absence is deeply felt, and his legacy will be enduring. Donald is preceded in death by his wife, Mae, his brother Jack, and his daughter Margaret. He is survived by his son, Wilbur, his daughters, Donna and Diana, his sister, Geraldine, and by 11 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and 9 great-great grandchildren.

His Funeral Service will be on Tuesday, January 7th at 1pm at the Garden of Memories Mausoleum Chapel followed by burial at Garden of Memories with Military Honors.