Daniel C. Deforest

Daniel C. deForest died September 17, 2020, at the age of 76 of complications of heart disease. No service is planned; instead of flowers, donations in Dan’s memory might be made online to the Texas Airedale Rescue Team (TART) at texasairedalerescue.com/donations/ where they accept credit card or PayPal, through the TART Facebook page: Texas Airedale Rescue Team; or at Texas Airedale Rescue Team, 6444 Suncrest Court, North Richland Hills, TX 76180.

Daniel Curtis deForest was born October 27, 1944, in Evansville, Indiana, to Jack deForest and Billie (Mure) deForest of Newburgh, Indiana.

Dan grew up in Newburgh, a small Southern Indiana town near Evansville, on the Ohio River. Dan was active in the Presbyterian Church in Newburgh. He was an excellent student in grade school and excelled in multiple areas at Newburgh High School. As a child, he enjoyed living just across the street from the local library as he had a curious mind, always looking to learn. Early on, he had an uncanny understanding for mechanical devices. His mother said he took her washing machine apart when he was still in grade school “to see how it worked,” and then he put it back together, perfectly. He had fun riding his bicycle, swimming, and exploring the banks of the Ohio River. He loved water skiing and other water sports and also competed in two-man beach volleyball. He learned to play keyboards and bass guitar and, as a teenager, enjoyed Boogie-Woogie dancing.
After high school, Dan began a major in chemistry at Evansville College. However, this was in the 1960’s: during the Vietnam war, he left college to enlist in the US Air Force. His aptitude was tested for placement, and he scored high enough in every category to be allowed to choose himself what he wanted to do in the Service. Computers were new then, and he already had an interest in electronics and communications, so he chose to be trained for Cryptographic Maintenance and Communications. After much study through the US Air Force, he graduated first in his class, with extensive and advanced knowledge, and he qualified to be stationed at the Strategic Air Command (SAC) Headquarters in Omaha, Nebraska, in a Top-Secret position supporting the Cryptographic computers and phones for the SAC Generals.

After his service days, Dan initially worked as manager in a computer-board manufacturing company in Georgia, continuing to explore his interests in computers and hardware. A few years later, and after moving back home to Indiana, he worked for a camera repair and photography business in nearby Evansville, Indiana; after that, as an audiophile, he worked at an audio store repairing and installing large audio, communications, and security systems in area homes and autos. Later he and his business partners opened a coffee store, selling fresh-roasted imported coffee beans, and he brewed coffee by the cup at the counter. He was ahead of the times: this shop was exactly like the Starbucks of today. However, the 1970s proved to be too early for that enterprise. So he returned to computers and electronics, opening an electronics retail-sales storefront and electronics and computer-repair business in Evansville. He took a part-time opportunity to teach Basic and PC computer skills to students at Evansville University. When that electronics business was sold, he moved north to Fort Wayne, Indiana, to work as a PC specialist at Compumatics Corporation.

It was in Fort Wayne that Dan and Deborah (Deb) Johnson, a registered nurse from rural Indiana, were married in a private ceremony on October 8, 1981.

Dan’s next promotion was in IT at Lincoln National Corporation in Fort Wayne, where he was the PC specialist. Personal Computers were just beginning to be used in large corporate offices then, and Dan helped Lincoln National with their transition from mainframes to PCs. While there, he also taught company executives basic PC skills in classes at the Lincoln National Corporate Headquarters.

Dan was a sports-car and classic-car enthusiast, owning a 1960’s Spitfire and later a classic 1960 Austin-Healey “Bug Eyed” Sprite. In the Fort Wayne Chapter, he became active in the Austin-Healey Club of America, enjoying rallies, parades and touring along with the club. His skills with mechanics were valued by the entire club, and he was often found helping someone with repairs or maintenance. Another hobby was photography for which he developed his own pictures in his darkroom at home. He was especially good with photo composition and portraits of family and friends.

From Fort Wayne, Dan and Deb moved to Glastonbury, Connecticut, near Hartford, for positions for each of them at Aetna Health Plans. Again, Dan was the manager of the PC Help Desk department. Aetna was also in the process of moving from mainframes to PCs. When that section of the Aetna company was sold to Travelers’ Insurance, he was hired to continue his work as PC Help Desk Manager for Travelers’ Insurance in Hartford, Connecticut.

His talent was soon recognized by a team of trouble shooters from Compaq, who were helping solve a problem with the Compaq computers at Travelers’ Insurance, and Compaq offered him a job in Houston, Texas, as top-tier support for their international commercial clients. Dan retired from there just prior to Compaq’s being sold to Hewlett-Packard.
In retirement Dan was still building his own PC hardware and always helping friends and relatives with their computers and computer skills. He and Deb had built a house in the piney forests near Magnolia, Texas, where he kept busy brushing up his gourmet cooking skills, enjoying nature and the animals of the woods around their house including deer, fox, and other small mammals along with many beautiful songbirds, woodpeckers, hawks, and hummingbirds to watch as the natural wildlife in their Certified Wildlife Habitat. The deer called this forest their maternity ward, and each year they gathered in the safety of the woods to deliver their fawns, often with 5 or more fawns playing together in the yard and forest surrounding the house. Dan used computer applications to listen to the bird calls in the woods and identify the species to watch for. He continued with his photography and took many pictures of the wildlife and natural surroundings.

Along with activities related to computers and electronics, Dan was owned by many dogs over the years. He trained their dogs in obedience and first showed his beautiful Borzoi (Russian Wolf Hound), Nick, in obedience classes. After Nick’s passing, Dan developed a love for Airedales when he and Deb got their first Airedale puppy, C.D. After C.D.’s time, a retired racetrack greyhound named Ron Ton was adopted. Ron Ton was at first a fear-biter, but helped by Dan’s training, he soon turned into a happy and wonderful companion dog. Next was another Airedale, Dude (Tartan Scottshire Dandy Duke), who had been shown by his breeders before he retired from the ring. Soon the couple decided that there needed to be another Airedale to play with Dude, and Missy (Tartan Scottshire Arcadia Miss) became his sister. After Dude passed, Missy gained a new brother, Tony (Tartan Scottshire Tony Lama). With Dan’s participation, Missy was trained by Deb to work as a therapy assistance dog at a rehabilitation facility after training Missy to obtain her Canine Good Citizen certification by the American Kennel Club (AKC). Dan and Deb were members of the Airedale Terrier Club in Texas and assisted Dude, Missy and Tony’s Airedale breeder at the kennels. They loved “having to” play with litters of puppies to socialize them. In the later days of his retirement he became interested in creating and growing evergreen Bonsai, as well as various rare and unusual succulents such as Lithops (Living Stones), and Bombax.

In addition to Dan’s father, Jack, and mother, Billie, of Newburgh, Indiana, he was preceded in death by his mother-in-law Ruth (Claybourn Johnson) Smith, who lived with Dan and Deb after her second husband passed, and who was cared for by Dan and Deb (a registered nurse) when Ruthie required full-time care at their home as she aged. He was also preceded by his father-in-law, E.E. “Chick” Johnson of Evansville, Indiana; his sister-in-law, Janice Louise (Johnson) May, and brother-in-law Raymond Lee May of Herscher, Illinois; his brother-in-law Charles Robert (Bob) Johnson of Evansville, Indiana; and his brother-in-law, Clyde Taverner of Wichita, Kansas.

He is survived by his wife, Deb (Johnson) deForest of Magnolia, Texas; his sister-in-law, Pam (Johnson) Taverner of Wichita, KS; one nephew, Bryan Johnson, and his family, Deanna and Piper of Nashville, Tennessee; his brother-in-law’s widow, Beverly (Shelton) Johnson; one niece, Blakely (Johnson) Brown, her husband Robert Brown, and their twins, Braeden and Ainsley Brown, all of Union, Kentucky.