PARKLAND, Florida – Donald Marvin Cramer, 88, widow, father, and grandfather, passed away Friday, March 22, 2024 with family at his side. He was born in Black River, New York, on August 11, 1935 to Margaret Elizabeth Marvin Cramer and Carleton Gonya Cramer. He grew up on a family farm in the small township of Rutland on the outskirts of the village of Tylerville in upstate New York.
Don graduated from Copenhagen Central School in 1953 and attended Syracuse University where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1957. After graduation, he worked for Sikorsky Aircraft in their helicopter division in Stratford, Connecticut. While at Sikorsky, Don got his master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at New York University in the Bronx and later got his MBA. In 1962, Don left Sikorsky and accepted a job at General Electric in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. In 1967, he married Phyllis Cameron Cramer, and together they raised their children. Don went on to work for Martin Marietta in Orlando, Florida and later Rockwell International/Boeing in the missiles division in Columbus, Ohio and then Duluth, Georgia where he developed missile systems. His kids got a kick out of saying their father was indeed a rocket scientist.
He retired in 1999 and traveled the world extensively with Phyllis for the next 15 years. They loved traveling and enjoyed creating art together, even while globetrotting, with Phyllis helping Don with colors as he was color blind. Even after nearly 55 years of marriage, the two of them still held hands and kissed every morning and night up until Phyllis’ passing in October of 2022.
Don’s love of working with wood started when he was a teenager as he interned every summer with his Uncle Charles who was a carpenter. After that, Don seemed to always be building something. In the late 1960’s, he built an A frame two story cottage in the Pocono Mountains by himself where the family spent weekends and vacations.
After Don retired, he started to do woodcarving which became a passionate and creative hobby for him. He taught woodcarving and wood burning for years at the Roswell Senior’s Center in Atlanta and was a popular teacher as his enthusiasm and passion for carving was contagious. On all of his trips, he found places to set up his tools and carve often overlooking a beautiful vista or old world architecture.
Over the years, he sold many of his carvings and gave others away to family and friends across the country. Around the Aston Gardens grounds, various carvings of Don’s reside in the trees and on benches. He always enjoyed talking with others about his craft and current projects.
After he retired, Don also started family reunions in up state New York with his siblings, organizing these with his youngest sister, Janice. Usually, Don rented a B&B or a house for the family to gather for a few days. Spending this time with his kids and his siblings and their families meant the world to Don and he loved the cooking, family meals, singing, and laughter. When not cooking, he was often found whittling away on the front porch, working on his current project. It became a tradition that after each family reunion Don and Phyllis would spend a week or two with their two daughters, Sandy and Sherry. Over the years, they explored places up and down the east coast, Don still always teaching the girls about history, geology, photography or wood carving. Son Len and his family sometimes joined on these east coast trips. These were treasured times. Don encouraged his kids to follow their dreams and helped Sandy become a photographer; he was very proud when she started to teach photography to mentally ill people in her area.
Playing bridge was another hobby of Don’s. He usually played every day at lunch time with a group of colleagues while working at Boeing. In addition, he and Phyllis enjoyed playing bridge for years with friends. Once the pandemic hit, they began doing puzzles and spent hours every day working on a puzzle off and on throughout the day. Don continued this daily activity until recently.
Don’s love, his creative artistic side, and his fatherly caring has touched the lives of many, and his spirit lives on through us.
Don is survived by his children and grandchildren: Sandy White in Ohio, Len Cramer and his wife Adriana and sons Sam and Josh in Florida, Sherry Dumont and her husband Ron in California, David Cramer and his wife MaryAnn and son Sean and daughter Kailyn in North Carolina, Scott Owens and his wife Kathy in Massachusetts, Doug Cramer and wife Erin in Pennsylvania and son Ben and daughter Maddie.
Don is also survived by his younger sisters Nancy Gates and Janice Cramer both in upstate New York. His predeceased sibling was older brother, Robert Cramer, who passed away in January, 2022.
Celebration of Life services are pending. Please check back soon for details. In the meantime, remembrances and condolences may be shared by going to DignityMemorial.com and entering Donald Cramer.
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