Don Upham, a longtime resident of Los Alamos, passed away suddenly in Santa Fe on February 1, 2023, due to complications resulting from a fall. He was 90 years old.
The youngest of seven children, Don was born at the height of the Great Depression in 1932 to Clifford and Marie Upham on a farm near Buchanan, Michigan. As with all in his family, he helped with the day-to-day running of the farm when not in school. A voracious reader from a young age, he had an innate curiosity in all topics and spent one summer of his youth reading each volume of the family encyclopedia from cover to cover. (This would serve him well later in life during games of Trivial Pursuit, where he seemingly knew every answer - even to the most obscure questions.)
Don attended a one-room country school for grades 1-8, but was skipped ahead a year when the teacher proclaimed she had “run out of things to teach him”. After graduating high school at age 16, he worked for a few years to save up for college. He then attended the University of Michigan, where he obtained a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
While at the University of Michigan, Don met the love of his life, Joan Lovell, on a blind date. Their relationship blossomed, and they were married a few years later in 1957. In 1959, Don accepted a job at LASL in GMX division, so he and Joan moved to Los Alamos.
Over the next decade, Don and Joan welcomed four children – Michael, David, Bryan, and Janet. Don taught all his children how to play sports, fish, camp, play chess, and more. At one point he made a forge out of spare parts from Lab salvage, and everyone learned how to do sand casting with molten aluminum in the backyard sand box. Don was also a tremendous supporter of all his children’s activities, as he and Joan never missed a swim meet, softball game, band concert, school play, scouting event, etc. He was a tireless volunteer at Aquatomics and High School swim meets, and drove his family throughout the southwest in support of swimming and other school events for nearly 20 years.
In 1968, Don was the design chairman for Barranca Mesa Pool, and he produced the final drawings that were used in its construction. He then provided construction oversight leading up to opening day in the summer of 1969. Don also volunteered hundreds of hours in support of modernizing the original LAHS pool, where he built and installed new starting blocks and assembled a much-improved PA system.
While working at the lab, one of Don’s proudest moments came when the Berlin wall came down, as he was eventually able to travel to Moscow and even train Russian counterparts who traveled to Los Alamos to learn best practices in nuclear safety. He also got to work with Navy dolphins on one project, an experience he treasured.
Don was pre-deceased by his parents and all his siblings. He is survived by Joan, his wife of 65 years, sons Mike (Diane) of Colorado Springs, Dave (Sheila) of Aptos, CA, and Bryan (Lori) of Virginia Beach, VA, daughter Janet (Sony) of Albuquerque, plus eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Don was loved dearly by his entire family.
A private family ceremony will be held in the spring. The family asks for people to donate to their favorite charity.
Please post a goodbye, memory, or picture for the family to enjoy.
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About |
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| Name | Donald L Upham |
| Date of Birth | August 19th, 1932 |
| Date of Death | February 1st, 2023 |
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Memorial |
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| Funeral Home | Rivera Family Funeral Home - Los Alamos | |
| Address |
1627 A Central Avenue Los Alamos NM 87544 United States |
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published a tribute .
As a young child I had known Don (or as I knew him, Grandpa) to be a loving and doting grandfather, but as I grew older I also came to appreciate what a remarkable man he was. He was a voracious reader, a keen intellect, and loved sharing things he found "neat" with me as well as the rest of his family. When I was a young child, he would take me out to launch model rockets out near Los Alamos High School, which I loved. As a teenager, when I was visiting he taught me how to weld in his garage. While what I made while learning was not much more than some slag on a piece of scrap metal, it was special to me and I kept that piece of metal as a memento on my desk for years to come. When I was older still, I found his stories about his work at LANL and with the Russian nuclear safety delegation captivating; he was an excellent storyteller and lived a life full of curiosity and wonder. I will miss him always.
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published a tribute .
Dearest Aunt Joan and sweet cousins... I'm at a loss for words to express my sympathy for our great loss. Uncle Don... what a wonderful, caring, witty, generous, smiling, storyteller, smart, knowledgeable, loving, sweet Uncle he was to me & the whole Richard Upham family. Your family has been there for us during some of our darkest times in life and also shared in very happy times. I could never thank you enough for the support and love Uncle Don & Aunt Joan showed us and especially my Mom after Dad's passing. We also would not know as much about my dad if Uncle Don hadn't shared his stories with Philip & I, especially his military experiences.
My thoughts have been with all of you continually the last couple weeks and prayers too. I already feel such a void of such a wonderful person... but have many wonderful memories of such a precious man. He was a treasure. Love to all of you.
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published a tribute .
Dearest Upham family, I am saddened by the loss of Don, a very special man. He and Joan supported Eric and me at all of those swimming meets! Don also was instrumental in the development of Barranca Mesa Pool with my dad Doug Lier.
More recently I want to thank Don and Joan for driving me to Santa Fe for both of my breast cancer surgeries, as well as numerous trips to radiation treatments and oncologist appointments. Don was a treasure. He was patient and full of respect. The love of family was admirable as they are so close. Don was the head of an amazing family and left an impressive legacy. Thank you for sharing your life with Bob Okagawa, Jerry Schotik, and me. You are missed. Love, Kari
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published a tribute .
One of the things I really enjoyed about Don was that he was always such a great storyteller. There are a few stories that stuck with me over the years but one of the earliest I remember is Don recounting how, as the youngest child growing up on a farm, he was often given the most unglamorous of chores. One of those chores was to keep the farm animals out of the family garden - especially one very naughty dairy cow named Sunnybuck. As Don told it with glee, "Sunnybuck had a penchant for watermelon. If she thought that she could get to the closest melon, kick it, and get even one bite in before I could hit her with my stick, she thought it was worth it. We had many such stand-offs over the summers."
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published a tribute .
Here is a photo from 1994 of Don with me and some Russian laboratory counterparts signing papers of cooperation. It was the beginning of my career and the end of his, but Don remained as one of my favorite coworkers. I got to travel to Moscow with Don and share his sense of wonder of standing in Red Square after a career competing against the USSR. I wish I'd had more time working with this wonderful man. The world is a better place because of Don.
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published a tribute .
My Dear Don, I miss your love and respect you ha e shown me. Also your acceptance to your beautiful family. I tjnk you so much for all your teachings and patience. Your patience with me was unbelievable. I only wish I would recorded you with all those wonderful stories and adventures. I will miss our discussions. I learned so much from you. I really wish I had a father like you. I will cherish the moments we shared. You and Joan did so right by your children. They are wonderful. What wonderful adults they turned out to be. Your grandchildren have also turned out to be as great as you, Joan, and their parents. I hope you knew how much I and all your family loves you. Rest assured Don, your Joan will be taken care of. Your whole family will make sure of that. Your children have been so blessed with their spouses. Im sure they learned from your fortunate of marrying our Joan. Also, know your whole family will continue to be beautiful human beings. Rest in Peace my Don. I love you so....
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published a tribute .
So very sorry to read about Don's passing. I have so many memories of him. I particularly remember his kindness, wonderful smile and laugh. Many thoughts are with you all. With love, Amy
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