Donal Leon Staples of Scarborough, Maine passed away on January 9, 2021 at Maine Veterans' Homes of Scarborough, his home for nearly two years. He formerly lived in Falmouth, Maine for 16 years. Donal was born on September 22, 1927 in Plymouth, Massachusetts and raised in nearby Marshfield where he and his wife Elaine later raised five children. Don was a Brant Rock lobsterman and Elaine taught third and fourth grades in Marshfield. They retired in 1985, and moved first to Parsonsfield, Maine and then Holmes Beach, Florida where Elaine passed away in 1997.

Don was an honest, hard-working, and self-assured man with a generous heart, a great smile, and a twinkle in his blue eyes; he made friends wherever he went. He was not only a devoted father, grandfather, and great grandfather, but also a much-loved uncle to his many nieces and nephews. He loved the outdoors, whether the Maine woods or Florida beaches, and was as much at home at sea as on land.

Donal survived a mild case of Covid19 in April and a broken hip in May, but then was brought down by the pandemic-induced isolation he endured during 2020. With family gatherings restricted to window visits and video calls since March, one of the few joys left to him was to watch birds outside his window.

Raised during the Great Depression in a large family, Donal started contributing to his family's limited income at the age of 11, lobstering out of a small skiff. Throughout his pre-teen and teenage years, he always had a summer job—harvesting seaweed with his sister Cynthia, working at Estes Candy Kitchen and Sandy's restaurant in Brant Rock, and pumping gas at the Gulf station in Fieldston (where gas sold for $1 for six gallons). Every penny of his earnings went to support his family. Not until he was 16 or 17, when he mowed lawns in Duxbury, was he finally allowed to keep what he earned and had money in his pocket for the first time in his life. This experience led to a strong work ethic that he carried with him his whole life.

Eager to serve his country during World War II, Don enlisted in the Navy at age 17, in November 1944. He served on the USS Chandeleur in the Pacific during the Battle of Okinawa, the last pivotal battle against Japan. The Chandeleur was a seaplane tender, providing support services for seaplanes that scouted the location of enemy ships and submarines. With his boating experience, 1 ^st Class Seaman Staples was given the job of running a 35 ft. boat with one crewman, a 2 ^nd Class Aviation Mechanic who outranked him. But Don was running the boat and was in charge. They ferried flight and repair crews to and from seaplanes moored nearby. They also ferried officers and men to different ships in the Navy's anchorage at Kerama Retto, a Japanese archipelago southwest of Okinawa.

After long busy days, his nights on the ship were generally spent responding to one General Quarter (GQ) alarm after another, in response to waves of Japanese kamikazes threatening the Fleet. During the three months of the Battle of Okinawa, the Chandeleur had 360 GQs. During quiet times, he listened to Tokyo Rose on the radio. While he enjoyed the music she played, it was unnerving to hear her say, "Chandeleur we missed you last night, but we'll get you tonight."

One day, Donal was assigned to take the ship's captain to the Battleship Maryland. There were 14 ft. swells and he knew it would be tricky to get the captain safely off and back on his small boat, which was just a small toy next to the huge battleship. He timed the rise and fall of his boat and, at just the right moment, directed the captain when to step off and when to step back on. The captain obviously was impressed as later that day he was promoted to 3 ^rd Class Aviation Boatswain Mate. At 17, he was the youngest 3 ^rd class aboard ship. Don always remembered being in Tokyo Bay, with many other ships, the day the Japanese foreign minister signed the surrender document with General MacArthur on the Battleship Missouri on September 2, 1945.

Donal finished his military commitment at an airbase in San Diego before being discharged in July 1946 at the age of 18. He came home to complete his senior year at Marshfield High School, where he played football and graduated in 1947 at age 19. Don worked as a lobsterman, carpenter, and at Marshfield Sand and Gravel for several years. He met his future bride, Elaine Dobie, while pouring a concrete foundation and floor for a garage at her grandmother's beach cottage in Humarock in 1948. She noticed his lobster sandwich. After three days, the co-owner of the sand and gravel company came out to see why this simple job was taking so long. He saw Elaine and her friend sitting on the cottage steps and he knew why. Don bought his first small lobster boat in 1950. Don and Elaine were married on July 21, 1951.

Don remained in the Naval Reserve and was called back for the Korean War in April 1951 and served until July 1952. He served on the USS Salerno Bay, a small aircraft carrier, as a 3 ^rd Class Aviation Boatswain Mate. He was in-charge-of the flight deck crew, which consisted of 66 young recruits just out of boot camp. When Don's time aboard the ship came to an end, he received the unusual honor of having the captain and other officers line up to salute him as he departed the ship for the last time, in recognition of his superior work.

A year later, Don and Elaine bought their first house in Brant Rock, where they raised five children. Family fun often consisted of fishing from Don's now-much-larger lobster boat on summer Sunday afternoons and taking week-long boat-camping trips through the Cape Cod Canal to Buzzards Bay and the Elizabeth Islands. In 1970, Don and Elaine bought land in North Waterboro, Maine and built a cabin in the woods for weekend getaways where the children took up skiing and snowmobiling.

Don was actively involved in both the South Shore Lobster Fishermen's Association and the Massachusetts Lobstermen's Association for many years, including serving as president of the South Shore association and on the board of the Massachusetts association. He was one of the leaders who started a Lobster Boat Insurance Co-operative which serves the members to this day. He was a volunteer firefighter for 25 years at the Ocean Bluff Fire Station (Station 1) on Massasoit Avenue in Marshfield.

Donal is survived by his son Donal Jr (Anne) of Falmouth, Maine, daughters Sandra Staples-Bortner (Brad) of Cathlamet, Washington and Robin Maccini (Brian) of Westport, Massachusetts, and daughter-in-law Karen Staples (Gregory) of Melbourne, Florida, along with nine grandchildren, seven great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife Elaine (Dobie), children Gregory and Suzanne, parents Fred and Althea (Fifield), and siblings Natalie Henderson, Fred Jr., Winifred Peterson, Selwyn, Cynthia Josselyn, Gloria Peterson, and Judith Hubbard.

The Staples family would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the staff of Maine Veterans' Homes of both Scarborough and Augusta for their excellent care of our father, grandfather, and great grandfather. A special thanks to the staff assigned to C-unit in Scarborough, his true home in his final years. You are a wonderful group of people.

A private graveside service will be held at Cedar Grove Cemetery, Marshfield, Massachusetts on January 23, 2021. For those wishing to participate virtually, the service will be livestreamed, beginning at 11:00 a.m., and recorded for future viewing at the link below. Memorial donations may be made to the Resident Activities Fund at Maine Veterans' Homes—Scarborough, 290 US Route 1, Scarborough, ME 04074.

https://my.gather.app/remember/donal-l-staples