Don Nicholas Crittenden, 93, passed from this life on April 8, 2017, from natural causes incident to age. Don was born in Ogden on October 27, 1923, to George Carroll and Luella Nicholas Crittenden, the oldest of six children.
Don was reared in Ogden and graduated from the recently built Ogden High School. He graduated from the Utah Agriculture College (renamed Utah State University) in 1945 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Secondary Education, with minors in Botany and Zoology
Don married his sweetheart Marjorie Andelin in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple on February 11, 1944. They have five children.
Even with the loss of his arm as a teen-ager, Don never let a handicap define him. He defied the odds in everything he did starting with playing on the winning Allstate football team in high school.
After teaching school in Idaho and Roosevelt, Utah, he moved his family back to Ogden. He purchased property in Milton and set about to build a house. He got a book and drew up some plans then he and his older sons went to work, contracting out only the things that he had to (brick work, electrical, plumbing)
Don was an unequaled hunter and outdoorsman, excelling in marksmanship in everything from target shooting to game hunting. While he religiously participated in the average bird, deer, and elk hunts, he loved going after the not-so-average game as well. His den sports a bear skin, a buffalo head, and a wild boar’s head.
He had a passion for guns and a gift for gunsmithing. He was unbeatable in competitions at rendezvous with muzzleloaders, pistols, rifles, and cannons many of which he had built himself. While he was a teacher at Ben Lomond High School, he was a staple at its football games hailing each touchdown with a thunderous cannon boom. For years he also shot his cannon to celebrate the sun-rise and flag-raising on the 4th and 24th of July in Morgan.
Don was preceded in death by his parents; brothers Paul, Herb, Charles; son Karl; and two granddaughters. He is survived by sons Kerry (Karen), Kurt (Vicki), Shawn (Caren), and daughter Marjorie Dawn Anderson; thirteen grandchildren; 25 great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Friday, April 21, at 11:00 am at the Morgan Utah North Stake Center, 2755 W Old Highway Rd. Friends and relatives may pay their respects at a viewing Thursday evening from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm (at the church) and Friday morning from 9:45 – 10:45.
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