Donald R. Ellet

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Donald R. Ellet, 95, of Harrisburg, formerly of Caseyville and Grand Tower, passed away 11:25 p.m. Saturday, March 6, 2010, at the Saline Care Center, Harrisburg.

Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 10, 2010, at the Meredith Funeral Chapel in Grand Tower with the Rev. Joe Patton officiating. Interment will be in the Walker Hill Cemetery, Grand Tower. Friends may call from 5 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at the Meredith Funeral Chapel in Grand Tower. Memorials may be made to Hospice of Southern Illinois, 204 Halfway Road, Marion, Ill. 62959-5058 or to the St. Louis Shriners Hospital, c/o Ainad Shrine Temple, 609 St. Louis Ave., East St. Louis, Ill. 62201 and will be accepted by the staff of the funeral home.

Don was born in Grand Tower on Oct. 24, 1914, to Cullen and Gettie (Hicks) Ellet. On July 20, 1939 he married Tressie Howard at Festus, Mo.

Survivors include three daughters and sons-in-law, Carolyn F. and Bud Freeman of Marissa, Patricia A. Brooks of Nixa, Mo. and Linda S. and Steve Patton of Harrisburg; seven grandchildren, Scott and Terry Freeman, Donna St. Germaine, Dawn Agar, Wayne Brooks, Cory Patton and Mandy Collingsworth; and 10 great-grandchildren, Astion and Patricia Brooks, Sara Freeman, Cora and Clayton Agar, William St. Germaine, Sally Smittling, Connor and Logan Patton and Esther Collingsworth.

He is preceded in death by his parents; a stepmother, Maggie (Blacklock) Ellet; his wife, Tressie, on Feb. 18, 1998; a son, Norman Wayne Ellet in 1942; a son-in-law, Burge Brooks in January 2010; seven brothers; and six sisters.

Don retired in 1979 from the U.S. Government as a federal livestock inspector. He was an avid slow-pitch softball player and pitched in a church league will into his 80s.

His family and friends loved the humor and quick wit Don had and he will be missed by all.