Don Lewis, 89, of Kalona and formerly of Riverside, died Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026, at Halcyon House in Washington. A memorial visitation will be held 9 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Feb. 21, at Yoder-Powell Funeral Home in Kalona. Burial will be at a later date at Woodlawn Cemetery in Lynnville. A general memorial fund has been established.
Don was born Mar. 2, 1936, in Lynnville, the son of Dean and Retha (Holdsworth) Lewis. As a young man, he swept hair at a barber shop, helped install rotary phones, and poured concrete. Upon graduation from Lynnville High School, Don joined the U.S. Army and served three years in Okinawa, Japan. He then graduated from Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant (where he was inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame in 2011), the University of Iowa, and Idaho State University. Dec. 20, 1958, he married Shirley Clark at Palo United Methodist Church. Don and his family spent a year in Portier, France, where he coached and taught children of military personnel stationed there. Don then owned an insurance company in Baxter for several years. In 1965, he became an educator at Highland Community School where he served as a teacher, driver’s ed instructor, coach, and junior and senior high principal and superintendent until 1989. From 1990 until 1994, he was the K-12 principal at HLV Schools in Victor. Don coached the HLV football team from 1995 until 1997, taking the team to State. Don was an educator and friend to many. In retirement, he enjoyed driving tractors on Kent and Rhonda’s farm.
Don and Shirley were longtime members of Trinity United Methodist Church in Riverside. The Bible verse he lived out daily was Psalm 118:24, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”
Don’s greatest gift was putting others before himself, both at home and work. He loved children. It was not unusual to see him trying to rock a baby to sleep (even when it wasn’t nap time!), playing with a toddler on the floor (even in his 80s), or playing ball with his kids and grand-kids. Spending time with family was very important to Don. Not only did kids love him, but animals did, too! He enjoyed taking dogs to Casey’s for a ride. He also enjoyed traveling out West to the mountains, sports, the Iowa Hawkeyes (knot-hole tickets at Kinnick in the 60s and season tickets for decades), hunting, mowing the lawn, and wintering in Florida.
Survivors include his wife Shirley; three children Rhonda (Kent) Yoder, Deb Lewis, and Todd Lewis; four grandchildren Chad (Tiffany) Yoder, Kyle (Celeste) Yoder, Jake (Cheyanne) Lewis, and Molly (Mario) Barnes; six great-grandchildren Luke, Owen, and Adam Yoder, Manning and Boone Yoder, and Corbyn Lewis; three sisters Millie Van Soelen, Phyl (Bruce) Bierle, and Dot Zylstra; and brother-in-law Byron (Norma) Clark.
He was preceded in death by his parents; in-laws George and Marie Clark; sister Bettie (Cliff) Anthony; brother Bob (Rae) Lewis; sister-in-law Pat (Glen) Ament; and brothers-in-law Clair VanSoelen and Denny Zylstra.
