Donald Pollard was born on January 14, 1929 on the Cowgill farm, Cowgill, Mo. which is in Caldwell County, Mo. He attended the country schools, Cottage Grove, Excelsior and graduated eighth grade from Frog Pond School. He attended Cowgill and Braymer High Schools.
It was in September of 1946 that Donald and his brother Bill started their infamous adventures out West. These stories about picking apples in Yakima, Wa., working farms in California and harvesting wheat near Spokane, Wa. were shared many, many times and always with much enthusiasm and joy!
In 1951 Don was drafted into the Army where he served two years, one year at Camp Carson in Colorado Springs and the other in Germany. Again, he shared so many great stories about his German adventures with lots of laughter! However, the best adventure was in his first year of service when he and brother Bill were driving in downtown Denver and saw two cute student nurses walking down the street! One whistle caught their attention and pretty soon Nurse Greta Mae Pfost became the apple of his eye and the first person he came back to after returning from Germany in April 1953. They married on May 7, 1953 and resided in Denver/Englewood throughout their 67 years of marriage.
Donald started his own business in 1957 when he purchased Lakewood Poultry and Feed from Fred Lampe. After one year he moved the business to Parker Road where he started to develop his poultry and custom hatching. In 1966 Donald moved Pollard’s Hatchery and Feed into his own new building where he stayed until 2015 when he retired at the age of 86 yrs old! Again, many great stories came from there! The Old Soldier, as he called himself, was most certainly faithful to his business for many years.
One of Donald’s passions all through his life was traveling. He and his wife Greta traveled all over the world and they loved every moment. They also cruised on the Queen Mary 2 a couple of times including to celebrate their 60th Wedding Anniversary.
Don and Greta were avid ballroom dancers and were known to go dancing most every Saturday night for many years. They loved dancing at Elitch’s with the Big Band’s and then later with both the Shriner’s and Elk Dance clubs.
Donald was a Paul Harris Fellow in Rotary Club and was a member of the Denver/Cherry Creek Rotary Club chapter for many years. Donald and Greta are members of Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church.
All in all, Donald the faithful Husband, loving Father, Grandfather, Great grandfather and friend will be greatly missed! He will always be remembered by one of his favorite sayings, “I worked hard and I played hard!”
Donald was preceded in death by his parents, Raymond and Hattie May Pollard, brothers Dean Pollard and Arthur Pollard. He is survived by his wife, Greta Mae Pollard, daughters Linda Adair (Tim), Devona Troutman (Charles), grandchildren Jason Gunther (Brandy), Jolie Patton, MacKenzy Adams (Ben), Jackson Troutman, Hattie Ann Troutman, Step-Granddaughters, Andrea Seimears (Caleb) and Abi Troutman, Great grandchildren, Trista Gunther and Colette Gunther, brothers William Pollard and Ronald Pollard.
Services will be Saturday October 24th at Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary, 6601 S. Colorado Blvd. Viewing at 1pm, Celebration of Life at 1:30, Internment at 2:30, and reception following at 3:00pm at Chapel Hill.
Donations can be made to the Friends of Nursing (FON) Donald Pollard Scholarship Fund:
Friends of Nursing, P.O. Box 735, Englewood, Colo. 80151-0735
www.thefon.org (PayPal)
