JULY 3, 2015, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
CONAT,
continued from Page A1
than 20 years ago. Conat came
by Anagnos’ office to visit,
only to discover Anagnos was
out of the office. Conat was
initially disappointed and left
a note about Anagnos appar-
ently not working since he
was out of the office. How-
ever, Conat changed his tune
after learning Anagnos was at
a school helping youth.
“He said anyone that gives
time to kids is good enough
for me,” Anagnos said. “That’s
how our relationship got start-
ed.”
Among other things, Co-
nat was heavily involved with
Keizer Rotary and Make-A-
Wish Oregon.
“Don Conat was a true
Oregon treasure,” said Laila
Cook, CEO of Make-A-Wish
Oregon. “He had a heart
of gold and truly used it for
good. In my opinion Don and
Blanche, his wife, are respon-
sible for the growth of Make-
A-Wish Oregon from a small,
fledgling nonprofit to the over
200 wishes each year organi-
zation it has become.”
Cook noted Conat opened
his home to Make-A-Wish
staff members, volunteers
and anyone else interested in
learning more about the orga-
nization’s mission.
“Don worked with a small
group of local volunteers to
host a golf tournament in sup-
port of wishes and he was so
proud of the local businesses
who would place an advertise-
ment in the tournament bro-
chure, or sponsor the event,”
Cook said. “Don would liter-
ally cut and paste each ad in
the brochure long after com-
puters could do the work eas-
ily. It was hard to say no to his
passion for these brave kids,
and I believe businesses would
give beyond their budgets af-
ter hearing Don’s enthusiasm.”
Cook noted that enthu-
siasm continued to the end,
even after Conat moved to
Avamere Court.
“Don Conat’s impact on
Make-A-Wish Oregon is im-
possible to quantify, but easy
to feel,” Cook said. “He was
the embodiment of magic and
he will be missed.”
Conat, a Keizer resident for
23 years, passed after a battle
with cancer. He was born in
Minnesota on Feb. 28, 1924.
He is survived by his wife of
68 years, Blanche, in addition
to sons Terry and Rick as well
as daughter Linda. Conat is
also survived by five grand-
children and six great-grand-
children.
After graduating from high
school in 1942, Conat joined
the U.S. Navy. In a 2012 in-
terview with the Keizertimes,
Conat talked about being a
gunner on the USS Somers
destroyer during WWII.
“We had another guy fig-
ure out distances,” Conat said.
“I just pointed it where it was
supposed to go.”
The USS Somers was in
support capacity at the inva-
sion of Normandy on the
north coast of France, then
was dispatched a month lat-
er for an invasion along the
southern coast of France.
“We knew something big
was happening because, at the
last stop at port in Corsica, a
minister was brought on board
and we were told to go to ser-
vice if we needed to,” Conat
said in the interview.
The ship had the task of
leading a fleet of seven British
minesweepers, which resulted
in a three-hour battle with
two German destroyers.
Following four years of ser-
vice, Conat left the U.S. Navy
as a first-class petty officer and
married Blanche. He went
into the lumber business with
his father and brother before
leaving to be a baseball um-
pire.
“It was in SI not too long
ago that he threw Lou Pi-
nella out of a first game for a
doubleheader,” Anagnos said.
“Don was such a great guy.
He had great baseball stories.
It was fun to sit around the
table and visit with Don.”
Following the six years as
an umpire, Conat worked for
a California paint supplier be-
fore retiring and moving to
Keizer.
“I never went to college
so [the military] was a pretty
good education,” Conat said
in 2012. “I think I learned a
lot about life and what a great
country this is.”