Donald Uhl

Don J. Uhl of Van Wert, Ohio, 99 years old, died at Henry Ford Hospital, West Bloomfield, Michigan, on February 22, 2022, of cardiac arrest with his wife and two children at his side.

He was born on February 3, 1923, to Albert and Margaret (Williams) Uhl in Van Wert. His twin sister, Dorthy Jean (Uhl) Weigle, was born fifteen minutes later; he had no other siblings. They graduated from Van Wert High School in 1941. During his high school years Don was an active athlete at the YMCA, winning medals as the Van Wert County top tennis player and travelling throughout the United States and Canada with the Y basketball team, and he was catcher for the Van Wert High School baseball team. He continued playing tennis throughout his life, finally relinquishing his racket at age 80.

After high school he began studying engineering at Ohio State University until the United States entered the Second World War. He enlisted as a cadet in the Army Air Corps (the forerunner of the United States Air Force) at Denison University. He was later sent to teach communications at Yale University before being assigned to a communications post on the island of Saipan in the South Pacific. Following the war he continued his studies at Ohio Northern University.

Don began his professional career at the Peoples Savings Bank before spending thirty-three years with the Federal Home Loan Bank Board in the Ohio-Kentucky-Tennesse district, auditing and examining savings and loan institutions. Throughout the years he often was called away on long assignments: twice to Washington, D.C, where he took the family along with him to live for extended stays, and once each to Charlotte, Dallas, San Antonio, and San Francisco.

His athletic ability and mathematical thinking combined to make him an expert pool player. At his 80th birthday celebration he ran the table. His athleticism and his sense of humor never left him; only last summer, aged 98, he scored a hole-in-one playing miniature golf, and he loved to laugh until his dying day.

He was a life-time member of First Presbyterian Church, where he served as a deacon and usher for many years, and a member of the American Legion, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and the Willow Bend Country Club.

He is survived by his wife of sixty-three years, Faye Ann (Cooper) Uhl, their two offspring, Christopher D. Uhl of Hoosick, New York, and Tiffany E. Uhl of West Bloomfield, Michigan, and cousins, nieces, and nephews. His sister preceded him in death four years ago.

A funeral will be held at First Presbyterian Church on Saturday, March 19, 2022, at 1:00 p.m.; the family will receive visitors in the France Room from noon until service time. Burial will follow the service at Woodland Cemetery.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers contributions may be made to First Presbyterian Church or the Y.M.C.A.

To share in Donald's online memorial, please visit www.alspachgearhart@gmail.com.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Alspach-Gearhart Funeral Home & Crematory, 722 S Washington Street, Van Wert, OH 45891.