Longtime Douglas resident John Aggeler Donohoe passed away on Saturday, April 23 in the Palmer Veterans and Pioneers Home. He was 91. Donohoe was preceded in death by his beloved wife Elizabeth. Survivors include his son Brian, daughter-in-law Donna, grandchildren Paris and Gabriel, and extended family living in Arkansas, California, and Oklahoma.Donohoe was born on March 30, 1925 in Los Angeles, California. He enlisted in the US Navy as a teenager, serving aboard the battleship USS Tennessee during World War II. He also served in the US Army during the Korean War. In 1968, Donohoe moved his family to Juneau to escape the air pollution and drug scene. He was a longtime employee of the Alaska Department of Transportation, working as a data systems analyst. He retired from State service in 1985. Donohoe was a mathematician, an old-school programmer with template-drawn flow charts and key-punch cards. Privately, Donohoe was a musician. He learned to play the zither, mandolin, and bag pipes. He loved music, particularly opera. His favorite vocalist was Luciano Pavarotti. He studied Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and recently Tagalog. In English, Donohoe had beautiful penmanship, a rich vocabulary, and an exacting style in composition. An aspiring grammarian, Donohoe had a healthy respect for the possessive gerund. After retirement, Donohoe attended many classes at UAS, becoming a regular at many art and foreign language courses.He was a dog lover, most recently falling in love with Kenai, a talented Frisbee dog who entertained the residents of the Palmer Pioneers home with her tireless acrobatics. He had a robust sense of humor. Donohoe was an honest and good man. He and his son Brian were best friends. He will be deeply missed. Memorial donations may be made to Mat-Su Regional Home Health Health & Hospice (www.matsuhomecare.com) and Gastineau Humane Society (www.ghspets.org)
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