In Memoriam: Donald Joseph Dietz

Donald Joseph Dietz

Donald Joseph Dietz passed away early morning of April 16 with his loving wife by his side. Don was born May 1, 1937 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Helen and Adam Dietz. He joined Richard, his brother, and Shirley, his sister. Early in his childhood, Don lost his brother Richard to diphtheria.

As he reached adulthood, Don proudly served in the Army during the Korean War. Once discharged, he worked for North American in Southern California working on several of the space programs as an engineer. This is where he met and married the love of his life Josephine (JoAnn) D’Onofrio. They were married October 10, 1964 in Cypress, California and on the exact date of their first anniversary their first child was born. They had five children: Donald R. Dietz, Michael J. Dietz, Lori A. Dietz (Keller), Christopher J. Dietz, and Cheryl Lynn Dietz (Cobb).

Don worked in the Iron Workers Union on many Los Angeles downtown skyscrapers in the early 1980s and then later worked for Otis Elevator in the 1990s where he worked tirelessly in Las Vegas installing elevators for several casinos.

In 1990, the family moved from Buena Park to Canyon Lake, California, a private lake community. Early in the 2000’s he lost his sister Shirley Hustead. When he retired in 2009, he went directly into retirement life enjoying Canyon Lake to the fullest. The second love of his life was fishing! He was a member of the Canyon Lake BassMasters for many years and served as a board member and participated in many charity events and tournaments nearly every weekend on his Ranger bass boat (and we are pretty sure this is where he would hide his coveted candy).

For the past 10 years, when not fishing, Don took his special needs son Michael to Angels baseball home games. Michael would be ready with all of his Angels gear before noon time on every game day. As time passed, Don began to have heart and lung medical issues and subsequent surgeries.

He is survived by his wife Joann Dietz; children Don, Michael, Lori, Chris and Cheryl; grandchildren Dana, Kelly, Robin, Jenna, Abigail and Sarah; nieces Dacy, Darlene and Shawna; and nephews Wayne, Kerry, Drew and Scott.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, all services must be kept to immediate family only.