Donald Elzer

Donald L Elzer, 86, of Evansville, passed away May 22, 2018. He was born on June 24, 1931, to the late Leroy and Ocie (Wright) Elzer. Don was a very hard worker all of his life. He delivered newspapers when he was young boy. Times were hard during WWII, for extra money he refurbished bicycles with his dad. Back at that time there was no rattle can paint, so he used an old bug sprayer which at that time was very common. His friends all said they looked far better than any new one in the store. After high school he went to work for Sigeco – Ohio River Station in operations. After the construction of the power plant units at Alcoa, he was a supervisor over the initial start-up of each unit. After 26 years, he began working at Big Rivers Power Plant, in Sebree, KY where he spent another happy 16 years overseeing the making of electricity we so take for granted. He followed his father in his love for fishing and they fished on the Ohio. Donald never wanted to do anything halfway; he knitted his own fishing nets and caught hundreds of pounds of fish during the summer months. Don and Helen started with an empty overgrown lot at the Boonville Boat club that later became the now French Island Marine and turned it into a summer home where they lived 6 months out of the year. There he was an original environmentalist and led the way in cleaning up the banks from erosion from rising waters from winter months by rip rapping the river banks to prevent erosion. Others all along the river took notice to this and saw it to be a good thing and followed in his footsteps by saving the river banks along their property as well. Don would have a fish fry at his river camp every year for all the employees at his work. He was a self-trained handy man in all things. He also loved pecan hunting at an early age, in working his swing shift at work he told stories of him crawling around on his hands and knees with a flash light in his mouth picking them up. He loved it enough that he showed his son (Alan) how to find the trees and pick them. We would get together in the fall months (October to January) hunt and pick pecans then go eat breakfast somewhere. In the winter months when ball games were on he would setup his card table pick pecans and watch TV. Then Mom would wash them and place them in vacuum packed bags then into the freezer for storage. He adored his wife and always wanted to include her in all things. Don was very detailed oriented and a planner. He loved to play bridge and take long vacation trips up and down the Ohio River on his pontoon boat. Don is preceded in death by his parents; and his son, David N. Elzer. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Helen (Bateman) Elzer; son, Alan K. Elzer (Kimberly); grandchildren, Chantel Elzer, Veronica Bloyed (John), Elizabeth Welin (Jason); and 6 great grandchildren. A Memorial gathering will be held from 10:00 Am to 1:00 PM on Monday, May 28, 2018, at Alexander East Chapel, 2115 Lincoln Avenue. He loved animals and in lieu of flowers we wish for donations to be made to Warrick Humane Society, 5722 Vann Rd. Newburgh, IN 47630 and Evansville Association of the Blind, 500 2nd Avenue PO Box 6445 Evansville, IN 47719.