Donald E. Meihls, 64, of Lafayette, passed away on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis following a valiant fight with cancer. He was born October 21, 1951, in Covington, to the late Perry Milton and Elizabeth (Anders) Meihls Holland. On August 18, 1973, Donald married Barbara Klutzke who has been the love of his life for 42 years.
He graduated from Fountain Central High School and served in the Air Force Reserves at Grissom AFB. He referred to himself as a 'pole jockey' because as an electrician, he worked to keep landing strip and tarmac lighting in good repair. He worked for Alcoa in Lafayette in the extrusion department for 30 years until his retirement in 2007.
Anyone who knew him, knew Donald was an avid Green Bay Packer fan. He enjoyed working with wood and creating specialty scroll work items for family and friends in his spare time. Every spring he eagerly looked forward to mushroom hunting. He was an assistant coach while his 2 boys were playing little league baseball. He dearly loved his 4 grandchildren. He would transport them in his yellow Jeep, the "mini bus" and supervised cucumber planting in the back yard. He loved talking to them in his Donald Duck voice. He was famous for his candy making, especially his peanut brittle. He was formerly a member of the Veedersburg Masonic Lodge and Scottish Rite of Terre Haute.
Until the end, Donald continued to be upbeat and quite the joker, but wanted to make things easy for Barb. He was always known for doing things 'his way'.
Survivors include his wife, Barbara Meihls of Lafayette; sons, Aron Meihls (wife Sha) of West Point and Chad Meihls of Lafayette, grandchildren; Hunter, Hayvn, Madison, and Jonathan. He is also survived by a brother, David Meihls (wife Kay) of Williamsport and sisters; Janice Hershberger (husband Joe) of Hillsboro and Judy Richter (husband Ken) of Veedersburg. He will be sorely missed by these and his many extended family members, in-laws, and friends.
Visitation hours are 4:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. Monday, July 25, 2016 at Family and Friends Funeral Home of Wingate, with funeral services 11:00 a.m. Tuesday at the funeral home, with Father Dominic Young officiating. Burial will follow in West Point Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be directed to American Cancer Society for Esophageal Cancer Research. Visit us online at www.familyandfriendsfh.com to leave a condolence or share a memory.