Graveside Memorial Service
Donald William Mott 1924 – 2020
Paulina Friends Meeting Cemetery
4468 Silver Ave., Paulina, IA
Tuesday, July 20, 2020 11:00 AM
Some seating will be provided but we ask people to bring their own lawn chairs if possible.
After the service relatives and friends are invited to join the family for visitation and lunch at the Mapleside Community Building.
This service will be recorded and will be available on The Overton Funeral Home, Indianola, Iowa website in the days following the service
Donald William Mott was born to Francis and Frances (Binns) Mott on the Mott family farm near Paullina, Iowa, on December 17, 1924. He died of COVID-19 at The Village retirement community in Indianola, Iowa, on December 18, 2020, at the age of 96 years.
Don’s early schooling took place at Dale Township #7 and then at Gaza School. His high school years were split between Gaza School and Olney Friends School in Barnesville, Ohio. His sophomore and senior years were at Olney where he graduated in 1942. In 1943 he studied for one year at William Penn College in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Don enjoyed sports — he played basketball at Gaza and football at William Penn.
Following school, Don registered for the draft as a conscientious objector and did Civilian Public Service (CPS) work from 1944 to 1946. During this time, he served at several work camps. First, he worked doing trail work at Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Second, he took part in a medical study of a pneumonia virus at Pinehurst, North Carolina. Third, he worked for the Bureau of Reclamation on an irrigation project camp near Trenton, North Dakota. Fourth, he was assigned to serve on a firefighting crew at Glendora, California. Don’s final assignment was at the Independence State Hospital in Independence, Iowa, where he served as an aide.
After his CPS work, Don returned to Paullina to help his father on the family farm. He married Dorothy Livezey, an Olney high school classmate, at the Stillwater Friends Meeting House in Barnesville, Ohio, on October 4, 1947. When confronted with the compulsory peacetime draft of men for the U.S. Armed Forces in 1948, Don elected to protest and become a non-registrant. He was arrested and served eight months at the federal prison near Springfield, Missouri. It was during this sentence that his first son, David, was born.
Don and Dot moved to Barnesville, Ohio, in 1951 where Don was employed as a farm manager at Olney Friends School for two years. In 1953, Don and Dot moved to Costa Rica to join friends and family in the Monteverde Quaker Community where Don’s primary work was in the sawmill.
Don and Dot returned to the family farm in northwest Iowa where Don farmed and worked at other jobs in the community. Don was employed by the O’Brien County Co-op Creamery (later AMPI) in Sanborn, Iowa, from 1958 until his retirement in 1985. During this time, he worked as a fieldman monitoring milk quality, installing milk storage equipment, and performing refrigeration repairs. In 1972 Don and Dot moved off the farm to a home in Paullina. Don and Dot became active in the American Field Service student exchange program, and during the 1973-74 school year, Andrew Brown of Birmingham, England, joined the family. Don and Dot moved to The Village retirement community of Indianola in 2001. Following Dot’s death in 2006, Don continued living at The Village until his death. Don greatly appreciated the additional nursing care provided by his daughter Deb during his later life
Don was an active, lifelong member of the Society of Friends (Quaker) at Paullina Monthly Meeting and attended the Village Quaker worship group. He had a wide variety of interests and hobbies. He loved all music, but especially big band music and his son Dennis’ musical performances. Don spent his retirement years repairing and riding bicycles. Along with numerous family members, he took part in many local bike rides and several RAGBRAI rides, including the 1974 RAGBRAI where he rode with his father, Francis, and son, David. He restored the family Farmall F-12 tractor. He co-owned a Cessna plane with his son, Daniel, and he liked flying. He and Dot spent 20 winters camping in the southern states, primarily in Texas and at Gulf Shores, Alabama.
He is survived by his 4 children and their spouses: Dave and Carrie Ash-Mott of Ivins, Utah; Deb and Stan McCreedy of Ainsworth, Iowa; Dan Mott and Barb Busch-Mott of Cherokee, Iowa; Dennis and Julie Mott of Davenport, Iowa; and AFS student son and wife, Andrew and Emma Brown of South Wales, UK. His grandchildren and great-grandchildren include Maria and Greg Hanson and their children Elizabeth and Peter of North Liberty, Iowa; Eric Mott of Iowa City, Iowa; and Jason, Angela, and Dorothy Mott of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He also is survived by his sister, Muriel Neifert of Richfield, Minnesota; sister-in-law Millie Crosbie of Pella, Iowa; sister-in-law Bertha Brown of Woodland, North Carolina; and sister-in-law Carol Livezey of Frostproof, Florida.
He will be missed by his many cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends.
He was preceded in death by his wife of 59 years, Dorothy (Livezey) Mott, who died August 13, 2006; his parents, Francis Mott and Frances (Binns) Mott; his sister and brother-in-law Hubert and Mildred (Mott) Mendenhall; brother-in-law James Neifert; brother and sister-in-law, Jim and Jackie Mott; and son-in-law George Miller.
Memorial Contributions may be made to The Good Shepherd Fund at the Village, 1203 N. E St., Indianola, IA 51025, Friends Committee on National Legislation, 245 2nd St NE #5795, Washington, DC 20002, Paullina Friends Meeting, c/o PO Box 605, Paullina, IA 51046 in Donald’s name.