Donald Jay Vail

The kid with no hair. Around 1960 some Little League basketball games were played in the Edmonds High School gym on weekends. My first memory of Don was watching him doing drills dribbling along the boundary lines on the gym floor. Years later I got to know him a little in high school. He was always accessible and good natured.

I will never forget the times we had together through the '70s and later. The births of our boys, the many dinners and birthday parties and times we spent together. I was thrilled to have dinner at your home with your Joyce and my Bill once again in August last year. Now you are gone. I will see you soon!!!

I first met Don playing basketball thirty plus years ago at the Wallingford Boys & Girls club, didn´t really know him but we had a couple mutual acquaintances. I got to know Don a few years later in the Record Breakers Golf League and we frequently played together for many years. I enjoyed knowing him, RIP Don.

Last time (Dec 2023) I saw Don before heading to AZ. Told him I see him when I got back but that was not to be.... RIP Don.

Reading Don's obituary brought back nice memories; you chose a good photo of him, his kindness comes through. Some of it I didn't know about Don and some of it was 'spot on', made me smile, laugh.

I wished I would've been able to see him when I got back from AZ but that was not to be.

He would talk in great length about his 2 grandchildren, which in turn made me feel like I knew them.

I thought he was super smart and he helped me a great deal at work. He was kind, a very good listener, and had a big heart.

I'll miss him.

Don Vail was a quiet philosopher, raising wry questions in Mr Ken Davis' Humanities class at Edmonds high school. On the basketball court he suggested the Seattle Sonics' agile Slick Watts. After '68 graduation my stepdad Ray Jenkins (3rd from left; Don is far right) recruited Don for his winning men's parks team, leaving me free to ham it in school plays.

Don was a year older, but books & chess brought sporadic contact. In 1969 he offered me & another a ride to the Rolling Stones' concert in Altamount, California. Luckily, Don's 1953 Chevy quit in Portland, Oregon. Glad we missed that fiasco. It was the bus for me back to Seattle. At UW we almost rented an apartment on Eastlake under I-5.

Not a lot of Edmonds folks quote Nietzsche, but Don might. The ex-shipwright & Boeing worker fit in with my WMRRA motorcycle racing friends at a Church Key Pub reunion a few years ago. Polymath Don Vail - and fine family - enriched lives of mutual friends Sue, Monica, Toni, Mike, Martha, me & many more. Thanks, Don! - Bruce Scholten

Don and I had a very special relationship. When I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer he jumped right in. He came to me once a week to be with me. His love got me through some very difficult times. He had a heart of gold.