Donald M. Alcoke Jr. ’58

Donald Alcoke died of colon cancer July 11, 2014, in Albuquerque, his home for the last 17 years.

Don came to Princeton from Greenhills High School in Cincinnati. He majored in psychology and joined Tower Club. He was known for his calm and measured approach to everything — unflappable under all academic and social pressures.

After graduation, Don earned a master’s degree at Columbia Teachers College, and then taught at Isadore Newman School in New Orleans. He earned a Ph.D. in English at Northwestern and taught there before becoming an assistant professor at Elmhurst College. In 1976, Don entered the Oregon civil service, from which he retired in 1996.

Don’s life was varied. He played trombone and trumpet, wrote fiction and poetry, worked the Wildcat Mountain Ski Area in New Hampshire, dug latrines at Woodstock, and built a cabin in the Wisconsin woods.

He married Carolyn Lindgren in 1959, and they had two sons. After the two boys were grown, they adopted two girls from India and raised another family before Carolyn tragically died of a brain tumor. Later Don married Phyllis Kraus, after reconnecting with her at a high-school reunion in Cincinnati. Retiring to New Mexico, they traveled extensively and Don continued to write.

The class extends condolences to Phyllis; Don’s sons, Gregg and Jeff; daughters Angelina and Rehana; and eight grandchildren.