Don met his wife Mary at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas in 1957, as both were in the Air Force. He spent the better part of 20 years as Military Security in France, Washington, D.C., Japan, Taiwan and then retiring in 1973 as a Senior Master Sergeant at Carswell Air Force Base, Fort Worth, Texas.
After the Air Force, Don continued his life in the field of security for another 20 years as head of security at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas. A Free Mason and Shriner, Don was Ordained as a Deacon of the church at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Paris, France in 1964.
Family was everything to him having 12 siblings, 2 children, 3 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Mary Ann Hyder Dake and son, Daniel Dean Dake; his father, Roscoe Viga Dake and mother, Bertha Mae Lawson Dake; his brothers, William Howard, Charlie Wayne and James Orlando; his sisters, Edith Wilma, Eva, Linnie Agnes, Lula Gertrude, Gladys Mae, Effie Lorene and Margie. For years he put flowers on the graves of relatives at Laurel Land including his wife and 13 year old son.
He is survived by his daughter, Donna Caroline Dake-Williams and Steve; brother, Tommy Earl and Janet Dake; sister, Gloria Jean and David Martin; grandchildren, Amanda Darlene Dobbs, Anthony Dathon and Karen Dobbs and Aaron Dean Hewett; great-grandchildren, Anthony Connor Dobbs, Nicholas Lee Dobbs, Daniel Xavier Godlewski, Breanna Nicole Dobbs and Peyton Riley Hewett.
