VERNAL ~ Don
B. Showalter, 86, died Dec. 30, 1999 at the Ashley Valley Medical Center in Vernal, Utah.He was born October 4, 1913 in Vernal, the son of Clarence W. Showalter and Mary Alice Barney Showalter. He married Donna McCullough on November 28, 1940 in salt Lake City, Utah.
Don was president of Showalter Ford and was named a Time Magazine Quality Dealer Award Dealer (TMQDA) winner in 1975. He also was an active member of Utah Auto Dealers Association, serving in many leadership positions. Don was also an active member of the National Auto Dealers Association. He was district vice chairman of the Ford Dealer Council and former zone chairman of that council, former secretary of the Ford Dealer Advertising Association; received the Ford Distinguished Service Award on numerous occasions, and won numerous other Ford citations and honors for leadership and sales.
A native of Vernal, he graduated form Uintah High School in 1932, and attended Brigham Young University, majoring in business administration.
Active in community affairs, he was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, receiving the Distinguished Service Award in 1974, and served as chairman of the Upper Colorado Project Committee and chairman of the industrial promotion committee.
Don also served as past president and director of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, and served as a state director. He was a member of the Jaycees' fund raising campaign for a new hospital in the early 1940's. He was named "Kiwanian of the Year" in 1954 and was a charter member and was a charter member and past president of the Kiwanis Club of Vernal. He served as a director, was chairman of its committees on youth service and public affairs and served on a committee to provide eyeglasses for the under-privileged.
For the State of Utah, Mr. Showalter served as a member of the Board of State Lands and of the State Fire Prevention Board. He also served as chairman of the Board of Directors of the Automobile Club of Utah and as director prior to that time. He had been a district council finance chairman of the Boy Scouts of America; a former director of the Bank of Vernal; and also past president and director of the Hotel Vernal. In political affairs, Don had served as chairman of the Uintah County Democratic Committee. He was a charter member of the Dinaland Country Club, a member of the One Hundred Club and sustaining patron of the Little Gallery of Arts and the Good Shepherd Lutheran Home, Tere Bela, Ca.
In education affairs, he participated in the mechanical arts scholarship program of the Uintah Basin Education Center.
A member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served as an elder.
Work was his life. He was unassuming and didn't expect a lot. He believed in work and his generosity many times went unnoticed. Later in life, Don and his wife, Donna, loved to travel.
He was preceded in death by a son, Dick Showalter; brother, C. Roy Showalter; and sister, Mina Murdock.
Don is survived by his wife, Donna M. Showalter; son, Gary (Marianne) Showalter; and two grandsons, Mark and Matt Showalter of Vernal; sisters, Theda (Fred) Washburn, Vernal; and Vera Gee, Salt Lake City.
Funeral services will be Monday, Jan. 3, 2000, 11 a.m. at the Vernal 3rd Ward LDS Chapel, 475 W. 100 South, Vernal. Friends may call at Thomson's Vernal Mortuary on Sunday evening 6 to 8 p.m. and again Monday 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Burial will be in the Vernal Memorial Park directed by Thomson's Vernal Mortuary.
In lieu of flowers, family suggests donations to Uintah Care Center building fund, 510 So. 500 West, Vernal, UT 84078.