January 18, 1936 – October 29, 2024

Don Crane, 3 months shy of 89 years, caught the bus back to God's heavenly home after a very long struggle with dementia. Don was born and grew up in New York City, and he liked to tell stories about remembering his dad being a blackout warden in a hard hat, walking the streets of New York City during WWII, ensuring that everyone had their lights turned out. Don attended Grace Church School in NYC, and then Chatham High School in New Jersey. He graduated from his beloved Haverford College in Pennsylvania, and then he earned his graduate degree in environmental science from the University of Chicago.

Don's most favorite job was working as a legislative assistant to Congressman Mo Udall in Washington, D.C., when he wrote much of Mo's strip mine legislation which forced coal mining companies to reclaim and restore the land they dug up. He then served as the Director of the Western Regional Office of Surface Mining, the director of the D.C. office of W.R Grace, next a congressional lobbyist for the Western States Governors' Association, and finally as an environmental aide to Colorado Governor Dick Lamm in Denver.

In the '70's, Don met and married his wife, Diane White, in Aspen, and they and their eventual two daughters, Sarah and Claire, settled first in Steamboat Springs and then in Clark, along with their delightful dogs, cats and llamas. Before the days of digital cameras, Don took many of the photos used in Diane's two Hiking the 'Boat guidebooks with his old faithful Nikon camera, his most famous being the beautiful Gilpin Lake cover of Hiking the 'Boat II.

A special thank you to the members of the North Routt Fire Department and to neighbor Marti Potter for their kindness, help and care at the end. There will be a celebration of Don's life with neighbors and friends at a Seedhouse Road picnic next summer, God willing and the creek don't rise!