Donald Eugene Pranger

Visitation ~ Friday, September 13, 2024

3:00pm-8:00pm with 4:00pm Chaplet Rosary

Fred Wood Funeral Home ~ Rice Chapel

36100 Five Mile Rd. Livonia (E. of Levan)

Funeral Mass ~ Saturday, September 14, 2024

St. Kenneth Catholic Church

14951 N. Haggerty Rd. Plymouth (S. of Five Mile Rd.)

Instate 10:30am     Mass 11:00am

 A memorial service and burial

Saturday June 14, 2025

Instate 10:30am and Mass 11:00am

St. Michael Catholic Church

100 Antwerp Drive, Hicksville OH 43526

Scipio Cemetery

Military Honors and Burial at 12:30pm

23800 IN-37

Harlan, Indiana

Donations may be made to

Society of St. Vincent de Paul

1600 S Calhoun St
Fort Wayne, IN 46802

Donald Eugene Pranger, died peacefully on September 9, 2024, surrounded by family. Donald
was born in Fort Wayne Indiana, the first son and second oldest of the 17 children of Joseph and
Irene Pranger. Don grew up during the Great Depression, but his family life was always rich. He
was active in the Catholic Church and Boy Scouts, raised prize rabbits, and traveled on the
railroad with his grandfather. He attended Catholic Central High School and studied carpentry at
a vocational High School until he left school at the age of 16 to help support his family. He
worked at a foundry and a bakery before becoming a patternmaker apprentice at Allen
Patternworks. He later earned his GED.
Don was drafted into the Army Air Force in July 1945 at the age of 18 and completed basic
training at Kessler Air Force Base in Mississippi. He then traveled to New York City where he
saw the Ziegfeld Follies on New Year’s Eve and left the next morning on a ship to France to join
the occupying army at the end of World War II. Don traveled through France and Belgium
before arriving at the 62 nd Field Hospital in Nuremberg, where he worked first as a carpenter, and
then as a Medical Equipment Technician. He was later transferred with the Medical Corp to the
388 Station Hospital near Frankfort. Don observed the Nuremberg Trials and traveled through
Germany, visiting the salt mines, Hitler’s summer cottage and Eagle’s Nest in Berchtesgaden. He
left Bremerhaven on the day after Thanksgiving 1946 on a Victory ship and was honorably
discharged in 1947 with a Victory Medal and Army of Occupation Medal.
After his service, he resumed his apprenticeship as a Patternmaker, a profession he practiced for
almost 50 years. He married Joann in 1952, began a large loving family, and named his first son
Gregory Allen after his employer and mentor Mr. Allen. He was a lifelong member of the
Knights of Columbus. Don and Joann moved their growing family to Illinois, and later to
Michigan where he worked as a patternmaker in the automobile industry. They eventually had 14
children who now live in 6 different states.
After retiring, Don continued his life-long hobbies of gardening, photography, tinkering and
reading. Their home was a hub of activity with the children and grandchildren often stopping by.
He lost his beloved wife Joann in 2012. In the following decades, he was often found on his 3
wheel or stationary bicycle, or using his IPAD to follow his grandchildren and great
grandchildren, and large extended family on Skype or Facebook. He passed quietly at home from
simple old age, in the loving care of his constant companion and son Matthew to whom we are
most grateful. Don left his family with a strong work ethic and undying devotion to the family.
Don is survived by his daughters Susan (Daniel Thomas), Pamela, Sharon (James -deceased)
Rateike, Laurie, Christine (Luke -deceased) Hauk, Sally (Jeff) Davis and Debra (Eric) Milz, his
sons Gregory, Ronald (Sarah), John, Joseph (Lillibeth), Matthew and Timothy (Barbara), by his
16 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren, by his sisters Joyce Venaglia, Pat (Jim) Jensen,
Helen (Jerry) Buescher -Miller and Judith (Fred) Pranger Lengerich), his brother Michael
(Joyce) Pranger, and his sisters-in-law Joan and Anita and by dozens of devoted nieces and
nephews. Don was preceded in death by his wife Joann, daughter Mary (Artuso), and his siblings
Gloria, Delores, Bernice, Robert, Rita, Rita Francis, John, James, Richard, Thomas and Paul.

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