Donald Frederick Schutte was born July 6, 1925 in La Crosse, Wisconsin and died on October 24, 2020. His parents were Frederick Kraft Schutte of Illinois and Mildred Vieth Schutte of Wisconsin. He married his late beloved wife of 52 years, Louise Frances Fernstrom in 1955.
As a child, Don lived in different cities within the United States as his father worked with the YMCA and USO. In 1942 he and his family settled in La Jolla, California, where Don was enrolled at La Jolla High School and played football, baseball and basketball.
He graduated in 1943 and went immediately into the army, where he fought in WWII in Germany and became a POW.
After his release and journey back home to the States, he became a student at SDSU and went on to study Dentistry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in San Francisco.
Don returned to La Jolla and opened a successful dental practice in 1953 and continued to practice until his retirement in 2000.
Don was an avid freshwater fisherman and fished at all of the local San Diego County lakes and streams, as well many lakes and streams in California and the Greater Western States. He shared his love of fishing with many of his friends and passed on that passion to his grandsons.
Throughout his life he was a member of the La Jolla Presbyterian Church where he ushered for decades. He was also a lifetime active member of the Kiwanis Club in La Jolla for over 60 years.
During his retirement years, he was also very involved in the Meals on Wheels organization in San Diego.
He is survived by his brother, Dr. Bruce Schutte and his wife Beverly Schutte, his daughter Lynn Schutte Pavoni and her husband, Christopher J. Pavoni, his son David Kraft-Schutte, grandchildren, Daniel J. Pavoni and his wife Hannah Pavoni, Lee F. Pavoni and his wife Diana Pavoni, and Joseph C. Pavoni, great-grandchildren, Sophia Pavoni, Leah Pavoni, Naomi Pavoni and Aubrey Pavoni.
Don will be dearly missed by his family and close life-long friends who will miss his kind heart and abundant sense of humor.
In lieu of flowers, donations to: La Jolla Kiwanis Foundation, PO Box 81, La Jolla, CA 92038
Services will be held 3:00pm., in person, Friday November 6, 2020 at La Jolla Presbyterian Church 7715 Draper Ave., La Jolla or via Livestream by connecting to LJPres.org/stream
Please sign the guest book online at legacy.com/obituaries/lajollalight
SHARE OBITUARY
v.1.8.18