Donald C. Viets
On the first day of September, 1924, Donald Clinton Viets was born to Leslie and Alice (Buckley) Viets at their farm home near Aurora, Kansas. His boyhood days were filled with assisting his father with farm chores, schooling, and long walks in the country with his dog, Shep.
After graduating from Clyde High School, he enrolled at Friends University, Wichita, where he met a student named Ruth. Shortly, Uncle Sam invited him to free training in the United States Army Air Corps. Don served as a skilled navigator on a B-29. During these years, God’s call to become a minister was realized. He married Ruth Paulin, received an honorable discharge from the Air Corps when World War II ended, and he and his bride became a team serving God with the rest of their lives.
Earning graduate degrees from Perkins School of Theology, S.M.U., Dallas, Texas, in two years, Don received his first pastoral appointment from the Kansas West Conference of the United Methodist Church in Nickerson, Kansas.
A petite angel had joined their family and immediately became the center of their days. Then, on to First UMC, Hoisington, during which time he represented the conference in an official visit to Philander Smith College, Little Rock, Ark. Bishop Dana Dawson invited him to join his tour with 18 other young ministers from the Kansas area to visit Wesley country in England and on to the Holy Land. Don and Ruth made trips later to Israel including the World Bible Conference in Jerusalem in 1973.
Don’s next appointment was to Grace United Methodist Church, Winfield, where he successfully melded together the college community with the regular members of the church. A sabbatical year was spent doing postgraduate work at Garrett Theological Seminary, Evanston, Ill. Returning to an appointment at University UMC, Salina, gave him the distinction of serving both college pulpits in the Kansas West Conference.
Requesting lighter work because of his health, Don enjoyed three years serving the Kiowa UMIC, in Kiowa, Kansas, before joining the editors of adult publications at The United Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn. Missing his pulpit work, he requested to return to the Kansas West Conference and was appointed to The United Methodist Church at Anthony, Kansas. Later appointments included Meade UMC, the Furley-Greenwich charge, Eastmoor-Youngtown churches of Marion, and associate pastor at Asbury UMC, Wichita, Kansas. He retired in June 1986.
Ruth and Don returned to their lake-front home at Marion County Lake. Before long, a call came for Don to supply a vacancy at the Burrton UMC and later to Eastside UMC in Newton. They sold their lake home and bought a home in Marion, their city of choice, where they spent their later years with friends and visits from their families.
Don was called to his heavenly home Nov. 23, 2008. Survivors include Ruth, his wife of 63 happy years; a daughter, Dona Rhu Coleman-Gibson and husband Rick; beloved grandchildren, Andrew and wife Adriana Coleman, David Coleman, and Danielle Gibson; precious great-grandchildren, Brody, Riley, and Eli Coleman; his sisters, Lola Viets of Winfield, Arlene and James Rockwood of St. Joseph, Mo., and Velma and Paul David Frazier of Rockville, Md.
Funeral services are at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 28 at Eastmoor United Methodist Church, Marion. The family will greet friends from 10 a.m. until service time.
Burial will be at 3 p.m. at Highland Cemetery, Wichita.
A memorial fund has been established with the church in care of Zeiner Funeral Home, 205 Elm, Marion.