Don Alden Stacks, Jr.

Don Alden Stacks, Jr. was born on October 04. 1946 and passed away on December 03, 2018 at the age of 72. A memorial service will be held at 10:00am Friday, December 7, 2018 at Scanio-Harper Funeral Home.

At the time of is passing Don was a resident of Temple, Texas where he and Debbie had retired. Don was born in Fort Worth, Texas but spent most of his early life in living in Austin and the surrounding Hill Country area.  Don and his family settled on Lake Travis where he would go to attend and graduate Leander High School. After graduation Don was glad serve his country from 1966-70 in the United States Navy in various assignments throughout the world. Upon returning from the Navy Don settled in Austin where he started a family resulting in the birth of his son Chad. Don completed the Austin Police Department Academy in 1971 and began protecting and serving the city of Austin Texas. Don would go to marry Debbie and the two would have their son Patrick. After several years Don left Austin Police Department and continued his career in law enforcement with multiple agencies throughout Texas. He would eventually return to the Austin area and began his tour with Travis County Sheriff's Office. In total Don served as a peace officer for 34 years. The one thing that Don always aspired to accomplish in his career was making a difference in at least one other person's life. The biggest love Don always had was baseball. From the time he was little, he loved the feel of the glove on his hand.  Two months into their marriage, Debbie bought him a new glove and threw that old one in the dumpster. He was so upset with her until he found it and pulled the broken pieces back together with love, and ask her to never do that again. Don explained the glove was just getting broken in. He played from childhood up into middle adult life. Don then took to coaching his son and any other young men wanting to play the game he loved so much.  Don also loved fishing, once he sat for 8 hours and all he caught were 4-inch perch, but he said it was not the size of the fish but the challenge of the fight that a fish gave (keep in mind perch).  Don loved to fish and enjoyed the time, with his son teaching him and then later his grandson Kyle.  It warmed his heart to see Kyle, lose every lure that his Boppa ever caught that "big one" on. Don never once complained when his tackle box was empty at the end of those trips. I could go on forever about Don but the truth is that he was a very simple man with very simple ways.  He loved God, his country and family. He loved having children around and teaching them things they would grow to use later. Don enjoyed playing with them and making them laugh. He always said the laughter of a child was the greatest sound he ever heard. Even in the last days Debbie would share a Facebook post of a friend's baby laughing and Don could not help but smile.  If you were in need, Don would be there for you. Even in the last years, he would do his best to help in any way he could.

Don read a lot and one of the sayings that he had come to love was from a book of poems by Michael Landon:

“Remember me with smiles and laughter for that is how I’ll remember you all. If you can only remember me with tears, then don't remember me at all"

Don is survived by his wife of 46 years Debbie Stacks of Temple; two sons, Patrick Joseph Stacks, and his wife Candice from Belton, TX and James Chad Stacks and his wife Victoria from Haltom City, TX; two grandsons, Kyle Christopher Stacks of Uvalde TX and James Angel Stacks of Haltom City, TX; and many nieces and nephews and cousins and extended family.

Don was preceded by his parents Bobbie and Emzie Joseph.

Memorials may be given in Mr. Stack's name to the Fraternal Order of Police (www.fop.net).