Donald Ray Campbell

Published 12:01 am Monday, July 22, 2013

Jan. 21, 1923 – July 21, 2013

MONTEREY — Services for Donald Ray Campbell, 90, who died Sunday, July 21, 2013, at Riverland Medical Center with his wife and four children by his side, will be at 11 a.m. Tuesday at Monterey First Baptist Church.

Burial will follow at Monterey Baptist Church Cemetery with full military honors under the direction of Young’s Funeral Home in Ferriday.

Visitation will be from 5 to 9 p.m. today at the Monterey First Baptist Family Life Center.

Mr. Campbell was born Jan. 21, 1923, in Cedar Lake, Miss., the son of Andrew Bonner and Verta Lee Mallette Campbell.

Mr. Campbell was a devoted husband and family man.

He graduated from Vancleave High School, where he met his future wife. After graduating from high school, he attended Perkinston Junior College from September 1942 to June 1943.

On Dec. 8, 1942, while attending Perkinston Junior College, Mr. Campbell enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He attended the Navy V-12 Unit at Southwestern Louisiana Institute in Lafayette, La., from July 1943 until June 1944. From July to December in 1944, he was assigned to the U.S. Naval Reserve Midshipmen’s School at Northwestern University in Chicago. He was commissioned Ensign on Nov. 1, 1944. Upon completion, he attended WAIPIO Communication School at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

He was assigned to LST-809 in January 1945 and stayed with the ship the remainder of the time that he was in the Navy.

During World War II, LST-809 was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated in the assault and occupation of Iwo Jima in February 1945 and the assault and occupation of Okinawa Gunto from April through June 1945

Shortly after returning from the war, Mr. Campbell married his high school sweetheart, Kathryn Olena Davis, on Aug. 11, 1946. They moved to Lafayette, La., so that he could complete his education at Southwestern Louisiana Institute, now University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where he had been in the V-12 Unit. He studied vocational agriculture education and graduated from SLI in May 1949.

In later years, Mr. Campbell went on to complete his master’s degree and +30 from Louisiana State University.

After graduation, he was hired to teach GI Farm Training in Concordia Parish and he remained there from 1949 until 1953.

The Campbells then moved back to Vancleave, their hometown, where Mr. Campbell operated his own dairy at Humphrey Farms.

In 1956, they moved to Monterey for Mr. Campbell to teach vocational agriculture at Monterey High School. He also taught biology for many years and taught physical education classes in the early years. He taught there until his retirement in 1980.

Mr. Campbell was a member of Monterey Baptist Church since 1956. During his years at the church, he served as the adult Sunday school teacher and sometimes the Sunday school superintendent. He became a deacon on September 9, 1979. At the age of 86, he still took pride in placing American flags on veterans’ graves in the church cemetery. In grateful recognition for his many years of faithful service to our Lord as deacon, Sunday school teacher, and Disciple of Jesus Christ, Monterey First Baptist Church conferred upon Mr. Campbell, the honorary title of deacon emeritus on Nov. 13, 2012.

He was a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Louisiana Retired Teacher’s Association and was a charter member of the National World War II Museum.

Mr. Campbell enjoyed gardening, fishing and staying active in the church. He was well known in the community as the gardening authority and after his retirement from teaching, he truck-farmed his tomatoes

Mr. Campbell coached the Concordia Drug Giants 10-12-year-olds boys baseball team. The Monterey team was revered when it went to the Ferriday Little Boys League ball park to play their games. The team won the league championship for five of the six years that Mr. Campbell coached.

Survivors include his loving wife of 67 years, Kathryn Davis Campbell; four children Bobby Campbell and wife, Estelle of The Woodlands, Texas, Elaine Johnson and husband, Darrell, of Gonzales, La., Suzanne Wade and husband, Jimmy, of Wildsville, La., and Mary Lee Ferguson and husband, Robert, of Duson, La.; eight grandchildren, Scott, Kristi and David Johnson, Aaron and Sabra Wade and John, Katie and Nicholas Ferguson; 10 great-grandchildren, Dari, D.J. and Remi Johnson, Cody Martinez, Hannah, Alex, Cameron and Madison Ferguson, Woodrow Wade and Hadlee Jo Hall; one sister, Jeane Brown of Ocean Springs and many nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be grandsons and honorary grandson, Skip Shows of Baton Rouge. Honorary pallbearers will be deacons of Monterey First Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Monterey First Baptist Church Cemetery Beautification Fund.