Donald "Don" Lee Hurlock

Donald Lee Hurlock, age 85, died peacefully at his home in Lynden, Washington on March 13, 2022. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland on May 3, 1936, the second son of Roger Woolford Hurlock and Edna Gertrude “Betty” (Rupp) Hurlock. He was raised primarily by his father and stepmother, Mary (Velenovsky) Hurlock, although he spent many summers in Ohio with his mother and stepfather, Everett “Wes” Weston. During his childhood, Don lived in Baltimore and then Juneau, Alaska with his parents and 5 brothers: Robert, John, Ron, Tom, and Larry Hurlock. As a family, they operated a hennery – Hurlock’s Happy Hennery — which eventually grew to 5000 chickens. He was a lifelong contractor, having first learned his building skills from his grandfather, Mr. John Velenovsky, in the basement of an old rowhouse in Baltimore. Indeed, as a teenager, he helped build the original family home in Juneau. Later, he obtained a degree in construction engineering from Washington State University. His career in property development began in Juneau, where he designed and built many homes throughout the 1960s — including the home for his own family at the time: his wife, Jacqueline, and their three children, Greg, Shanna, and Mark. He also designed and constructed the first condominium in the state of Alaska. It was during this time that he founded the Juneau chapter of Rotary International, a humanitarian service organization consisting of business leaders who promote community service, integrity, and advance goodwill, peace, and understanding in the world. In 1969, Don moved his family to Hawaii to work for Hawaiian Dredging Company — to this day, one of the largest construction firms in Hawaii. On nights and weekends, he built his family’s first Hawaiian-style house in Kailua, Hawaii. As a unique means of building capital, he would tear down an old, termite-eaten house and simultaneously build a completely new one of his own design in its place – all the while, housing his family in this evolving construction zone. Once the new home was complete, he would move the family to another very old home and repeat the process. Thus, all of his children have “fond” memories of bare concrete floors, unpainted drywall, hallways which ended with a blanket draped over the opening, and exposed wiring . . . as well as every Saturday morning beginning with waffles and followed by a full day of construction work. During all of this, Don lived part-time on Oahu and worked full-time on Maui for several years. He flew back and forth, constantly juggling work and family responsibilities, all while building and working on the current family house on the weekends. Again, with the labor of his own children during the summers, he also built and improved several investment properties on Maui. Don finally settled down in Lahaina in 1982, where he built a home for his second wife Odetta. In true Don Hurlock fashion, both that home and the next were completed with labor of his children in residence: Mark, Buz, and Joel. Together with his third wife, Catherine, in 1993 he built or renovated several more homes on Maui before relocating to Washington state in 2008 for a well-deserved retirement. They had been residents of Blaine until health concerns prompted a move to Lynden last year. There, he was lovingly cared for by his wife of almost 30 years, Catherine, his step-daughter, Sarah, and stepson, Eric, until his passing. Don was preceded in death by his brothers, Robert Hurlock and John Hurlock, his first wife, Jacqueline (Avery) Ponder, and his second wife, Odetta (Hamilton Moffett) Hurlock. Surviving are his wife, Catherine (Weightman) Hurlock, his brothers, Ron (Paula) Hurlock, Tom (Linda) Hurlock, and Larry Hurlock, as well as his children: Greg Hurlock, Shanna (Hurlock) Kurth, Mark Hurlock, William “Buz” Moffett, Joel Moffett, Andrew Weightman, Sarah Weightman, Eric “Ricky” Brown, and Alyssa Brown. He is also survived by 17 grandchildren (Ashley, Kolin, Natalie, Taney, Ephraim “Nate,” Alex, Ryan, Randi, Avery, Mackenzie, Ryan, Jesse, Taylor, Brittany, Kailey, Ka’ua, and London) and an ever-expanding future-construction-crew of great-grandchildren (currently 14). A private service will be held. Please share your memories of Don in his online guestbook.