Donald M. Schliesman

Donald Myron Schliesman passed away in Ellensburg, Washington on June 11, 2025, after a complete and happy life. He was 94-years-old.

Born on September 02, 1930 in Corona, SD, Don was raised in a loving, hard-working Catholic family. His father, Paul, ran the local lumber yard and his mother, Maybelle, managed six kids and a household. When it was time to attend school, there were 18 students in Don's class, which meant he was involved in activities from a young age: mixed chorus, basketball, summer baseball, football, student government, class president, yearbook, school newspaper, and drama. On weeknights, the Schliesman kids did chores and homework and, often, they fished and hunted pheasant. In high school, the boys delivered groceries on Saturdays and threw lumber for their father.

After a ten-week summer session at Northern State College following high school, Don was hired to teach a dozen kids across eight grades in a rural South Dakota one-room school house, and attended college part-time. From two years of teaching, he saved enough to return to Northern State fulltime, just about when America experienced the Korean War. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1951, serving stateside in San Antonio, TX, and then Walnut Creek, CA, until the end of the war. Returning to South Dakota on the GI Bill, Don graduated from Northern State with a degree in Education in 1956 and--never one to miss a good deal--he immediately enrolled in a Master's program at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, earning his M.A. in Education one year later.

Don loved to tell the story of how Central Washington College of Education President McConnell called him up in the summer of 1957, asking him if he'd like to teach at Central. After discussing the terms, Don said, "well ya, that sounds like a good deal." And that was that. The beginning of a forty-year career at Central Washington University started with a ten-minute phone call. He served CWU as Professor of Education, Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs, Provost, and Interim President, among other roles.

In addition to being hired at Central, Don's life significantly improved in 1957 when he met his true love, Jean Cameron, a beautiful school teacher from Naches. They courted and married on June 9, 1958 in Everett, where Jean was teaching, and eventually they returned to Yakima. In the summers, Don worked on his Doctoral degree at UNC, with family in tow, finishing in 1961.

After living a few years in Wenatchee, the Schliesmans moved to Ellensburg in the mid-60s. Don was employed at CWU until September, 1996, while Jean worked at Central from 1977 until her untimely death in the fall of 1996. In Ellensburg, Don was a 60-year member of St. Andrews Catholic Church where he was active on the finance committee amongst many other projects and events in the parish. He was also involved in Ellensburg Kiwanis, CWU's Retired Employees Association, and was a diehard Wildcat fan. Too many times, at Monday morning coffee with the retirees, he'd provide his reprimands for players and coaches not performing to his standards...if only he had the authority to do so! Much of his happiness, before and after retirement, came through the sport of golf, and the Ellensburg Golf & Country Club was his home away from home on many a day. Don joined the motley crew of Don Cummings, Don Ringe, Dale Comstock, and Fred Cutlip for regular rounds of nine or 18, and coffee and cookies wherever they could get served. Years later, it was the "Super1 club" with Central retirees like Comstock, Cutlip, Charles McGehee, Ron Frye, Wayne Fairburn, and Phil Tolin. Dad spoke of this group fondly until his last days.

At his retirement reception at CWU in 1996, Don said he received far more from university and community, and the folks he worked with, than he ever gave, and that he and Jean were lucky to call the beautiful Kittitas Valley "home" for so many years. As of late, his favorite activity was to pick up a Claussen at D&M and go for a drive around the valley or down the Yakima Canyon. He marveled at the wildlife and the scenery-delighted to see the occasional bighorn, a rafter of wild turkeys, or the lone bald eagle--and often wondered if others found such joy in life's abundant and simple pleasures.

One last bit is about Dad's sense of humor: It was not unusual, later in life, to find him at the kitchen table with his morning coffee and reading the Yakima Herald obituaries, and aloud if anyone was within earshot. He'd give a caffeinated, high-pitched cackle when he found a charming tribute. "God all Friday, listen to this: Larry leaves this earthly rodeo to join the Big Cowboy and his round-up in the sky..." (More laughter and a sip of coffee.) Well, Dad, here's to the life you lived: from your rural, Depression-era upbringing, to your dedicated years at CWU, decades of civic service in the valley, and to the countless ways you loved your family, friends and neighbors. May your drives be straight and your shots be true as you now join the Big Cowboy and his round-up in the sky.

Don was preceded in death by his parents, siblings Darlene, Helen (Tostenson), Paul Jr and Bernard, his wife Jean and children Michael and Ann. He is survived by daughters Barbara (Willie Parsons) and Kathleen of Ellensburg; sons Gregory (Judy) of Des Moines, IA, and Terence (Laura) of Gunnison, CO; nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren; and brother Ken (Mary) Schliesman of Bellevue, NE. Services for Donald M. Schliesman will be announced in the Fall of 2025, with a Catholic Mass and Celebration of Life.