Obituary of Donald Weaver

On August 10, 2024, Donald Weaver passed away surrounded by his loving and dedicated wife, two daughters and son in law.

Born June 21, 1957, in Pasadena, Donald was a lifelong resident of La Porte. Always an outdoor lover, he spent his childhood roaming outside, hunting local woods, and fishing every spot possible for miles around. He was known to many friends and coworkers simply as “Don” or “Weav”. Donald was a man of many great stories and adventures. He was always willing to take the road less traveled, drive the backroads, discover something new and embrace the “We’ll figure it out as we go.” attitude.

All who knew Donald, knew about his deep love for fishing all waters. While he was a master surf fisherman, he very much enjoyed fly fishing on rivers, or casting a line into any lake, stream, pond, or body of water that held any species of fish. Over the years, he practiced the art of rod building for himself, and as gifts to others.

He and Karee, his steadfast wife of 45 years, were avid gardeners. Together, they rose to the challenge of creating organic, chemical-free fruit and vegetable gardens, flowerbeds, and yards. For several years, their yard was home to many gorgeous, large, blooming plumeria.  

Some may not know that Donald was a talented artist as well. His landscape paintings and sketches are particularly cherished by ‘his girls”. He also enjoyed photography- snapping pictures of nature, animals, family events and grandchildren in later years.

Donald was employed by Haldor Topsoe for 37 years and held the longest employment term with the company when he medically retired. He rose from Operator to Shift Supervisor and was a dedicated employee for his time there, taking pride in his strong work ethic.

Most importantly, Donald was a loving and devoted husband and father. He and Karee celebrated 45 years of marriage in June. Two young adults, who met while both working at Minimax, had a brief courtship quickly followed by marriage and two daughters. Donald and Karee’s love for each other was undeniably true and dedicated to the partnership they formed so early on. Their unshakable connection blossomed into a tightknit family after their daughters came along.

Throughout his girls growing up, Donald attended any extracurricular activities and sporting events he could, cheering on his daughters. He was a supportive Girl Scout dad, chaperoning his wife, daughters, and large troops on camping trips, as the protective force he was. He was an amazingly gentle giant with his two small girls. He championed his wife, daughter and granddaughter’s love of horses and riding. Over the years, he personally helped nurse multiple bottle-fed kittens, squirrels and rabbits that were rescued.

The family enjoyed countless early morning trips to the beach to fish, swim and build sandcastles, giving him the opportunity to teach everyone how to build drip castles and search the sand for sharks’ teeth. His eye for detail and finding a single tooth in a pile of broken shells was amazing. His girls had the joy of catching many large redfish and sharks on his 10 and 13-foot surf rods. He taught them how to clean fish, bait a hook and throw a cast net early on. The foursome also enjoyed many camping trips alone or with friends and family, almost always near a body of water, of course.

In 2000, Donald embraced his role as grandfather to his first granddaughter. More grandchildren followed in the next handful of years. He was loved by all his grandchildren who often requested he cook his ribs, or pork for them. He even shared his secrets of smoking meats with his grandson.

Donald was preceded in death by his parents, Charles, and Ann Weaver. He is survived by his wife, Karee; daughter, Erika Daisy, and husband Bryan; daughter, Samantha Weaver; grandchildren, Ashlyn, Brett, Shaun, Audrey, Toby, Keris, Chance, and wife Mardi; six great-grandchildren; brother, Robert Weaver, and wife Cathy; sister, Crystal Weaver; and numerous nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life will be held by the family in the fall. In lieu of flowers or gifts to the family, they request that you donate to the charity closest to your heart, in his name.