Donald R. Maxwell

DONALD R. MAXWELL, 85, passed on to be with God in a better place on August 5, 2023. Don was from Buffalo, N.Y., where he was born in 1937 and moved to Ashland in 1978.
He transferred from the Buffalo, N.Y. plant of Allied Chemical to Ashland in 1978. He was an Ashland city commissioner from 2003-2006 and served on the Ashland board of zoning adjustment and Ashland, Boyd, and Greenup County airport board.
He was of the Episcopal faith and was treasurer of Calvary Episcopal Church and a member of their vestry.
He was a past chairman of the board of the former Boyd-Greenup Chamber of Commerce where he served on their board for over ten years; a past member of the Foundation for the Tri-State Community, current board member of the Ashland-Ironton Habitat for Humanity, past director of the Boyd, Carter, and Lawrence County chapter of the American Red Cross, and past executive director of the Kentucky Highlands Museum.
He was a member of the Collis P. Huntington chapter of the National Railway Historical Society where he also was their past president, executive and trip director, treasuer, and editor of their newsletter over the course of his thirty-three-plus years of membership. Don was a board member of the National Railway Historical Society based in Philadelphia, Pa.
He also served as the past president or officer of the West Virginia chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers, board member of West Virginia Operation Lifesaver rail safety program.
Maxwell retired from AK Steel in 1992 after thirty years of combined service with the former Semet Solvay division of Allied Chemical and Armco/AK Steel.
Following his retirement, he was employed by the Railroad Historical Society, he worked for the city of Ashland and the Greater Ashland Beacon. He was involved with numerous railroad related organizations around the country and was a firm supporter of rail passenger service in the United States. Don attended the Univ. of Buffalo and Marshall University and served in the US Army Reserve from 1955 to 1963 when he was honorably discharged.
He was preceded in death by his mother, the former Marjorie L. Oaks Maxwell Hemmerling who died in 1998, his beloved stepfather William J. Hemmerling in 1968, his father Robert Maxwell in 1993, and his half-brother Scott A. Maxwell in 2013.
He is survived by several cousins, his special friends Nell Busse, Jim and Linda Turner, Chris A. Smith, and Joseph and Tereasa Schueckler. While he never married or had children, he had nine special sons and daughters. He thought the world of them, included Chad A. Fannin, Bret A. Evanich, Eric and Mark Willert, Stephanie Evanich, Shelly Fannin, Bryan Borders, Billie Evanich, and David Whitt.
Services will be at 11 a.m. Friday, August 11, 2023, at Calvary Episcopal Church with the Rev. Bryant Kibbler officiating. Burial will follow in Golden Oaks Memorial Gardens where military honors will be provided by the US Army and American Legion Post 93. Visitation will be Thursday evening from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. at Steen Funeral Home Central Avenue Chapel.
Don requested that donations be made to Calvary Episcopal Church or Boyd County Animal Shelter.
To share a memory of Don please visit: www.steenfuneralhome.com.