Donald K. Quiring

Donald Quiring was born April 17, 1944 in Memphis, Texas to Ralph and Rosa (Goertz) Quiring.  He died December 31, 2023 at Kidron Bethel in North Newton, Kansas.  Donald graduated from Bethel College in 1966 with a degree in mathematics, obtained a perfect score on the Graduate Record Exam and was awarded a prestigious National Science Foundation grant.  He attended Cornell University for one year.  In 1970, he earned a Ph.D. in Probability and Statistics from the University of New Mexico.  He subsequenty taught at the University of California Riverside, Louisiana State University in New Orleans and Bethel College.

Donald was passionate about mathematics.  In the fall of 1964, he led the Bethel College math team to a 14^th place finish in the William Lowell Putnam Mathematical competition vs the best undergraduate mathematical teams (MIT, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell,...) in the US and Canada.  Donald led that team in preparation, inspiration, and final performance.  During his time at Bethel, his unique personality as well as his mathematical genius made him a campus legend.  He worked for Boeing in Wichita, KS and Philadelphia, PA for almost thirty years as a mathematical engineer.  A Boeing supervisor described Donald's mathematical contribution to a team project  as “an elegant solution to a pretty large problem”.

As a child, Donald traveled the globe with his family when his father's Air Force assignments changed: Texas, Trinidad, Illinois, New Jersey, Newton, Alaska, Maryland, Nebraska, and Germany.  Donald graduated from General HH Arnold High School in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1962.

Individuals can express and live their lives in ways that are not defined by convention.  Donald never owned a TV or car and walked to and from work his whole life.  His only significant possessions were his books.  He listened to the radio all of his life and enjoyed following the Philadelphia baseball and football teams on talk radio.  He was passionate about chess, competing at national tournaments. He loved cats but never owned one.  He counted his “bites” for 22 years to get to one million, for a $10 bet made in 1965.  If one really knew one million people, Donald would still be an outlier.

An individual so unique that most people could not see who he was or recognize the amazing person within. He did not exercise the usual emotional defense mechanisms.  He did not exaggerate or distort reality in a self-serving way.  Whatever he said was factual and worth considering. Donald had a brilliant mind and a selfless spirit.  To his friends, he was known as “Quiring”- the bread maker, dog walker, patient listener, faithful friend.   To his family, he was “Donald”-  big brother, mentor, human Wikipedia, the one and only.

Donald was diagnosed with lymphoma in 2017, which recurred in 2022.  Although Parkinson's Disease and macular degeneration continued to worsen over his last years, he maintained his sense of humor.  He received hospice care for ten months

Donald is survived by one sister, Patricia (Jim) Apperson of Scottsdale, Arizona, one brother, David (Lillian) Quiring of Liberal, Kansas, two nephews (Damion Low, Paul Quiring) and one niece (Stacy Cunha) and his loyal friend, Gary Lyndaker.

A gathering of family and friends will be announced at a later date.

Memorials may be made in Donald's memory to the Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum (Goessel, KS) and left in care of Petersen Funeral Home, Newton, KS.