I was born Don Mahlon Heil on April 29, 1944, in Windom, Minnesota. I spent most of my school days in Yankee Hill, California, just out of Oroville, where I graduated from high school. I enlisted in the navy for four years, of which two were spent on board a ship until September 1964, then went on to a Beach Jumper Unit in San Diego, California. I was discharged in September 1966. I then worked for a local power company, erecting transmission line towers with cranes and gin pole. In 1968, I went to work as a firefighter with the US Forest Service on the Lassen National Forest. With the skills learned while in the service, I transferred to the equipment shop as a mechanic and welder. Much of my time was spent maintaining vehicles and supporting the firefighting effort until retiring in 1997. I was married to my late wife, Carol, for forty-seven years. We have two daughters, Michelle and Donna, and one granddaughter, Jonna.
