EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Don Clugston, 92, died peacefully on Friday, Aug. 30, 2024, at the Linda E. White Hospice in Evansville, Indiana, due to complications from congestive heart failure and leukemia.
Don was born in McCune at the family’s farmhouse to Arthur and Rosa (McCloud) Clugston. He attended school in McCune. It was during those school years that he met, dated and later married Leeta (Frame) Clugston, his wife of 64 years.
Survivors include his son, Scott of Minneapolis, Minnesota; his daughter, Dawn (George) Moore of Newburgh, Indiana; a grandson, Matt Moore of South Weymouth, Massachusetts; a granddaughter, Mariah Moore of St. Petersburg, Florida; a sister, Betty Krone of Jackson, Tennessee; three first cousins and eight nieces and nephews.
Don was preceded in death by Leeta; his parents; his infant brother, Kenneth; and his older brothers, Val and Roland.
Don served overseas in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. Don’s career after the war was in coal mining. Don joined Pittsburg and Midway Coal Co. as a young man and worked his way up the ranks. Don’s work assignments were in West Mineral, Madisonville, Kentucky, and Gallup, New Mexico. Don retired as a production manager from Chevron Corp. after 36 years of service. Don and Leeta then moved to Tucson, Arizona, and later to Henderson, Nevada. They enjoyed living in the southwestern U.S. for 33 years. Don moved to Newburgh, Indiana, following Leeta’s death.
During their years in Kansas and Kentucky, Don and Leeta were foster parents to 27 children.
As a young man, Don avidly played high school sports, including football, basketball and baseball for the McCune Eagles. Don’s other interests later included working in his strawberry patches, swimming, reading thousands of murder mysteries and westerns, playing cards and walking. Don had a magnetic personality, was a good friend to many and enjoyed visiting with and helping friends and neighbors. Don was a proud veteran and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and the United Methodist Church. His greatest joy was time spent with his grandson and granddaughter. He was an immensely proud Papa to Matt and Mariah and their accomplishments.
A graveside remembrance will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19, at McCune Cemetery. The family suggests memorials to the Wounded Warrior Project or the McCune Osage Township Library.
