Donald O. Priest

Waltham – Mr. Donald O. Priest, of Waltham, died Tuesday, May 24, 2011 at Meadow Green Nursing Home in Waltham. He was 94.

Don was born in Maynard on January 4, 1917, a son of the late Albert and Mary (Lent) Priest, and had been a Waltham resident for more than sixty years. After graduating from Maynard High School he studied drawing and painting at the Scott Carbee School of Arts in Boston and portrait artistry became a lifelong passion for him. Until his retirement Don worked as a construction laborer with Local #560 in Waltham.

During World War II he served as a rifleman with the United States Army’s 311th Infantry Regiment in Belgium and in Germany. After the war Don, along with his brother Billy and a buddy, traveled to Alaska to pan for gold and to work on the construction of the Alaska Railroad.

The husband of the late Mary E. (Sullivan) Priest, he leaves his son, Donald W. Priest and his wife, Esther, of Waltham; his grandchildren, Donald D. Priest and his wife, Michelle, of Mansfield and Jeffrery A. Priest and his wife, Mary, of Waltham; his great-grandchildren, Conor, Mary ‘Molly’ and Dylan Priest, Daniel Smucker and Aaron Priest and many nieces and nephews.

Don was also the longtime companion of the late Elvira Harrigan and brother of the late Bernard, Ernest and William Priest and Edith Valentine.

Family and friends will honor and remember Don’s life by gathering for a graveside committal service on Thursday, June 9th, at 11 a.m. in Mount Feake Cemetery, 203 Prospect Street, Waltham.

Memorial donations may be made to the St. Vincent de Paul Society, c/o Saint Charles Borromeo Church, 51 Hall Street, Waltham, MA 02453.