Donald Benson Trull

On Sunday October 15,2017  Donald Benson Trull, 92, beloved husband, father and grandfather, died  in the Assisted Living/Memory Care Unit of Waltonwood at Cherry Hill in Canton, Michigan.  Don was accepting the declining of his memory from Alzheimer’s disease with patience and humor until a case of Shingles came and triggered physical changes which his heart and his body could not defeat. Don was born to Frank and Julia Benson Trull in East Lansing, MI, on March 2, 1925. He is survived by his wife, Kathryn, three children, Peter (Jacqui Devlin) of Ypsilanti MI, Thomas (Christine Coughanowr) of Mt. Nelson, Tasmania, Australia, and Susan (Stewart Bentley) of Ironwood, Michigan, and seven grandchildren, Chelsea, Sarah, Matthew, Erik and Julian Trull and Neva and Ian Bentley.  Don’s only brother Dick, died this year in June and his sister, Siri, in 2010. After graduating from Grand Haven High School, Don enlisted in the V12 and NROTC  programs of the US-Navy, training at the University of Illinois and Rice University. He was commissioned and assigned to the LSD Donner where he served until 1946.   Don then came to Michigan State and graduated ready to begin his teaching in Bath and Hartland, MI.  Because he loved travel and relished sports, he and brother Dick enjoyed the 1952 Olympics in Finland –especially track as Don had lettered in Cross Country while at MSU. In 1953 Don extended his traveling adventures, teaching in the American Military High school in Kaiserslautern, Germany. There he met Kay and married her in 1954.  They worked together, he as a principal and she as a counselor in Kaiserslautern, Munich, Wiesebaden and ,Bitburg , Germany, and in Tripoli, Libya.  Their children were born during  those years overseas.  In 1961 they retired from  these government schools and returned to the United Sates.  They settled in Buchanan, MI –a place half way between his Michigan parents and Kay’s in Wisconsin.  Don served as principal at the high school through a tumultuous decade until 1972  when he was awarded a teaching exchange in Victoria, Australia, and took his wife and teen aged children there for two years.  Don retired from Buchanan High School in 1989 after 28 years as counselor, principal, driver ed and math teacher. During his retirement years, Don enjoyed working in orchards and with farmers as an enumerator with the Cherry Advisory Board and NASS. Don found many ways to volunteer in his community.  Probably his favorites were working at the school farm and starting track and cross country races, although being a timekeeper for chamber music contests at the Fischoff competition was also a joy. He served as an Elder in his church and was a director on Honor and Heritage Credit Union boards. He was a long-serving member of the Buchanan Commons committee and helped on city projects like the Trail and McCoy creek  preservation.    He, along with his wife, was inducted into the Buchanan High School Hall of Fame in recognition of his volunteer service.  Throughout his life he loved Lake Michigan, rocks and trees, family, dogs, and neighbors and always had a smile for them all. Visitation is planned for 4-7 p.m. on Friday Nov. 10 at Swem’s Chapel with a Memorial service at 11:00 Saturday morning, Nov. 11 at First P.resbyterian Church in Buchanan. In lieu of flowers, memorial moneys may be sent to Buchanan Community Schools Farm, 401 W.Chicago St., Buchanan MI 49107; or McCoy Creek Trail, City Hall 302 N.RedBud Trail, Buchanan MI 49107; or First Presbyterian Church 115 W. Front Street, Buchanan MI 49107. To leave a condolence message or sign his guest book please visit our web site www.swemchapel.com. .