Donald "Don" Werner

DONALD WERNER
June 13, 1929 ~ January 8, 2018

Donald Werner of Vancouver, WA, passed away Jan. 8, 2018. He was born June 13, 1929 to the late John and Irene (Schantz) Werner in New Kensington, PA where he graduated from New Kensington High School in 1947.
Following his dad, he began working for Alcoa in the New Kensington Plant; then, as a Lab Technician at Alcoa Research Labs.
Don joined the US Air Force during the Korean War and served as a communications specialist in Wiesbaden, Germany.
Following his service, Don returned home and began attending the University of Pittsburgh. He graduated in 1953 with a BS degree in Metallurgical Engineering and returned to work at Alcoa. He met Martha Zimmerman and they married in 1954.
Don's career with Alcoa spanned more than 35 years and included tours in New Kensington, PA, Lafayette, IN, Los Angeles, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, Cleveland, OH, Alcoa, TN, and Vancouver, WA. He retired from Alcoa in 1987. He became a safety engineer consultant and started a business, Mardon Associates. He had a contract with the National Safety Council as a part-time safety training consultant, and traveled extensively across the country. He closed the business and retired for good in 2002.
Don was a member of the American Society of Safety Engineers for over 25 years. He was President of the Portland, OR Chapter of the ASSE in 1979 and was elected its Safety Professional of the year in 1986.
His interests included watching sports on TV, playing golf and spending time at the Oregon coast.
Don is survived by his wife of 63 years, Martha; daughter, Leslie Odegard (Erik) of Vancouver, WA; brother, John Werner of Baton Rouge, LA; and sisters, Patricia Berardone (Angelo) and Brenda Reifschneider (Robert), all of New Kensington, PA.
A Celebration of Life reception will be held on Wed., Feb. 21, 2018, at the Hostess House in Vancouver, from 2:00-5:00 p.m. Please wear red in his honor.
Please sigh his guest book at: www.columbian.com/obits.