Donald R. Angerhofer

Donald Rudy Angerhofer, a reluctant draftee veteran, died on Veteran’s Day, Nov. 11, 2019. Don was born 90 years ago on Oct. 23, 1929, in Oak Park, IL, to Grace Ethelyn (nee Rudy) and Rudolph Ernst Angerhofer and grew up in Chicago. From four years of age, his ambition was to become a locomotive engineer, and after testing into the Illinois Institute of Technology and realizing after a year that he wanted something besides a desk job, Don hired on with the Santa Fe RR. He fired steam engines in New Mexico one summer, shoveling 8-10 tons of coal per day, and worked his way up to number one on the engineers’ seniority list for the Illinois Division, retiring with 47 years of service and not a single demerit. His experiences are featured in the hardbound book, "Santa Fe Illinois Division" by Jim Brown.

On Dec. 7, 1963, Don married Pamelia Linda Williams at Rome Baptist Church in Chillicothe, IL. She survives. Don is also survived by their children, Peter Hans Angerhofer, Rye, NH; and Carissa Jill (Jeffrey Douglass) Means, Burr Ridge, IL, and four grandchildren, Jackson Donald Angerhofer of San Francisco and Maddox Gahr Angerhofer at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.; and Lucas Peter Means and Lindley Grace Means, both of Burr Ridge, IL, as well as the Angerhofer grandchildren’s mother, Melissa Greer Solomon of Stratham, NH. Additional survivors are his sister-in-law, Janet Lynn (nee Williams) Jones, and two nephews, William Eugene Jones and Charles Tyler Jones, all three of Colorado. Don’s parents preceded him in death. He was also preceded in death by his beloved father- and mother-in-law, Elgee Jay(“E.J.” or “Bill”) and Alcie Mae Faust Williams.

Don earned a pilot’s license and flew to the Indy 500 and raced his street rods on the beach at Daytona and at the Big Track after the Speedway was built. He also pitted for a late model stock car that he and his buddies built. In his mid-eighties he rode with his son around the Big Track once more.

After his marriage Don included Pam in his hobbies, and they won numerous sports car rallyes, gymkhanas, and ice races, competing at the national and divisional levels and earning a portion of the Volvo Factory competition prize money in a Volvo P1800s in 1966. Don entered the Shell 4000 Rallye three times, completing the 4000 mile event across the wilds of Canada once in 1967. Six weeks before his 90th birthday, Don ran a sports car rallye with Peter.

His interest in trains drew Don to Colorado where he and Pam and Peter rode dirt bikes over old railroad rights-of-way as well as up Pike’s Peak by way of a Ute Indian trail. Peter and Carissa had their own Little Indian motorcycle from the age of three, and the Angerhofers hauled their bikes back and forth across the country to ride on Daytona Beach, in national forests, along backroads and mountain trails, and at their Wisconsin farm, where Don also provided the kids with a pony and a go kart as well as a Shriner-type Model T.

When Peter and Carissa were at home, Don attended all their soccer or cheerleading events. He followed the Chicago Sting Soccer Team and the Chicago Horizons, attending every home game and some away games, flying with the team, attending their weddings, visiting their homes, and entertaining their children along with his own. Don loved animals and carried water to Carissa’s horses at the shows she entered throughout the area. He especially enjoyed cats, carrying cat food in his car should he chance upon a stray.

Just as he loved animals, Don was tender toward people in distress. He always stopped for the broken-down motorist, toolbox ever present, and emptied his pockets for panhandlers even when the women in his family were warning him of deception.

When Don took his family on vacation, they rode trains, either first class on Amtrak, sleeping on the train and eating in the dining car, or on tourist trains, standing in the vestibules or sitting in open cars on shortlines and cog railways around the country. His Santa Fe pass gave them free rides on the train at Disneyland, a favorite and regular destination.

Live steam model railroading claimed Don’s attention for 45 years, and he built from scratch a ride-on coal-fired locomotive and was working on a 1 1/2” scale Case steam tractor, welding in one night 140 spokes for the wheels. He also was number one on the seniority list of the model railroad club at Illinois Institute of Technology, having been present from its founding, and spent his last cash one Christmas Eve to buy 18-month-old Peter a Lionel set for around the Christmas tree. His last purchase was a 1 1/2“ inch scale gas-powered diesel locomotive to pull his grandchildren around the club tracks in the area.

Don sewed as well as studying sylviculture and planted 15,000 walnut trees by hand, pruning and managing them for 50 years. He studied blacksmithing and had a vast collection of vintage smithy tools. He did all his own auto mechanical, body work, and painting, as well as all his own home maintenance, including plumbing, electrical, and roofing until he was 87 years old.

Baptized and confirmed in a Church of Christ fellowship, Don attended Faith Fellowship Church in Oak Brook. Cremation has been accorded, and burial will be in Sunrise Cemetery in Greenville, AL. There will be a memorial luncheon at 12 noon December 15, 2019, at Faith Fellowship Church, 3724 Washington St., Oak Brook, IL, with a celebration of Don’s life to follow. Dessert and coffee will be served after the service. Donations in Don’s memory may be made to the Avery Coonley School (Makerspace Fund) 1400 Maple Avenue, Downers Grove, Illinois 60515, https://www.averycoonley.org/donations/donate.asp?id=19165

For information, please call Weinstein & Piser Funeral Home, 847-256-5700.