Donald Clay Hewitt

Donald Clay Hewitt was a great American and he’d be the first to tell you! At the age of 68, Don passed away quietly Friday, February 10, 2017 surrounded by family after a long battle with COPD. Don was born on March 22, 1948 to Clay and Mattie Lou Hewitt in Memphis, Tennessee.

His childhood memories revolved around his brothers Phil and John, and cousins Ross and Beverly. He especially held a fondness for the time he spent with his brothers helping his dad build their house on Horseshoe Lake. The boys managed to pull many shenanigans under the watchful eye of their mom, pop, and Aunt Hildred. While attending Memphis Central High School, his main haunt was the local bowling alley. He graduated in 1966, then attended Memphis State and later joined the U.S. Air Force.

His 22 year career in the military took him to unique places, both foreign and domestic. During his first tour in England, he met and married his first wife, Julia Holden with whom he shares a beloved daughter, KellyJo Hewitt. Upon returning to the states he was stationed in Whiteman, Missouri and was soon deployed to Cambodia during the Vietnam conflict. He was then stationed in Little Rock, AR, before going back to Alconbury, England. In 1980, he was stationed in Great Falls, MT, where he met Kathy Miller and her daughter Amy. They married in 1983 and the three of them headed to Greenham Common, England to begin a new adventure. He served one tour at USAFE Headquarters in Ramstein, Germany and rounded out his military career at Patrick AFB in Florida.

Don thoroughly enjoyed his work as a security police officer and was promoted through the ranks to the achievement of Senior Master Sergeant. Of note, during his service in Germany, Don helped mitigate the repercussions of the Chernobyl disaster, the bombings of Libya and Berlin’s La Bell discotheque. His Colonel would often remark they were living “on the tip of the sword.” Also during this time Don survived a widely unreported incident at the Karlsruhe Hauptbahnhof.

In 1991 he began his second career at Cape Canaveral, FL where he often joked that he was the one who lit the fuse to launch the rockets. Not only was he in charge of security for many rockets and the space shuttle, he loved being a part of history as it unfolded day to day. He also loved his encounters with alligators, boars, dolphins, manatees, and a menagerie of other creatures.

In 1999, Don and Kathy moved to Missoula, MT to be near their daughter Amy and her husband, Mike. Within the year, his first two grandchildren, Olivia and Matthew were born, shortly followed by two more, Kassie and Mattie Lou. Their antics may have left him exhausted, but always laughing. Not content with two full careers, Don decided to pursue a third at the Missoula Pre-Release Center where he worked until his retirement in 2012.
Through it all, Don always enjoyed a good meal, reveled in a great joke, treated people with dignity, and brought joy to all who knew him.

He was preceded in death by his mother and father, Aunt Hildred Phillips, brother, John Hewitt, and cousin, Ross Hewitt. He is survived by his wife Kathy Hewitt, his daughter, Kelly Hewitt and granddaughters Olivia and Mattie Lou of Peterborough England, step-daughter Amy Miller, her husband Mike Marcinkowski and grandchildren Matthew and Kassie of Missoula, brother Phil Hewitt of Austin TX, sister-in-law Elizabeth Hewitt of Memphis, TN and cousins Beverly Hewitt and Evelyn Gabor of Florida. Services will be held Thursday at 10 A.M. at the Western Montana Veterans Cemetery with a reception to follow at Garden City Funeral Home. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Missoula Food Bank or the ACLU.