Donald Hugh Stone

Donald Hugh Stone passed away in the early morning of October 27, 2025, at the age of 94. He was born August 13, 1931, in Ulysses, KS to Leila Ethel nee Murphy and Victor Hugh Stone. His father Victor died in a street cave in when Don was 3. His mother then married Archie Neil Kilgore in 1937, and gave Don four brothers, William (Freda), James, Jan, and Rocky, and two sisters, Janiel (Tony) Savenelli and Mary Martha (Charles) Douglas. During this time, the family moved to Kiowa, CO where they purchased a Drug Store. While attending Kiowa High School, Don played for the varsity basketball team, drove the school bus, and worked the soda fountain in the store. After graduating from Kiowa High School, via various connections, he obtained a football scholarship to Denver University which lasted for a year and half. 

In 1951, Don enlisted in the US Navy. After graduating Boot Camp in San Diego, he attended Training schools in Jacksonville, FL and Chincoteague, VA then back to Denver where he met the love of his life, Clarice Mae Whiting, whom he married on September 22, 1956. During his Naval service, he earned a rating as a Training Devicesman (TD) and was stationed in Memphis, TN, Philadelphia, PA, back to Memphis, TN, then Pearl Harbor, HI, and finally Vallejo, CA where he retired as a TD1 after serving for 20 years. During this time, he and Clarice had three children, Vickie (Alan) Hale, Patrick (Jean) Stone, and Michael (Lynette) Stone.
 
After his retirement from the Navy, Don went into teaching including going to Colorado State University for his BA and MA degrees in vocational education. He worked for 23 years in education, initially at Emily Griffith Community College in Denver, then at Boulder Vocational Technical School, and later became Director of San Luis Valley Vocational School in Alamosa, CO where among other things, he expanded the curriculum. After retiring from San Luis Valley, he and Clarice moved to Rio Rancho, NM where he continued to keep busy grading school essay papers and even worked as a porter at Chalmers Car Dealership. Following Clarice’s death in 2018, he relocated two years later to live with Vickie and Alan in the mountains near Cloudcroft, NM where he resided for the remainder of his life.

Don will be missed by his grandchildren, Brendan, Kellan, Tyler, Charolette, Cody; acquired grandchildren, Zachary and Tyler (Sara) Hale; six great grandchildren; many nieces and nephews. 

He was preceded in death by his wife, Clarice; son, Patrick; and all of his brothers.

Memorials/celebrations of Don’s life are TBD at this time.

The Stone family has entrusted their loved one to the care of Alamogordo Funeral Home.

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