Donald Amelon

JACKSON, Mo. -- Dr. Donald J. Amelon, age 75, passed away Monday, Sept. 16, 2002, at the Lutheran Home in Cape Girardeau.

Friends may call between 4-8 p.m. today at McCombs Funeral Home in Jackson, and Wednesday after 9:30 a.m. at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau.

Funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at the church, followed by interment in Memorial Park Cemetery in Cape Girardeau. The Rev. Paul Short will officiate.

Dr. Amelon was born March 7, 1927, at Seymour, Mo., son of the late John C. and Lydia Ritz Amelon. He and Ronda Kay Hoffman were married Aug. 17, 1958.

Loving survivors include his wife of 44 years, residing in Cape Girardeau; two daughters, Adrienne Ptacek and husband Kenney and their children Tyler and Ashley of Jackson, Sharon Mansell and husband Allan and their children Teresa, Holt, Wyatt and Alice of Fruitland, Mo.; three brothers, Rowland Amelon of Houston, Mo., Lawrence Amelon of Centralia, Mo., and Maynard Amelon of Palm Desert, Calif.

He was preceded in death by a sister, Ruth Cadwell of Mexico, Mo.

Dr. Amelon received his bachelor of science and master of science degrees and, in 1969, a doctorate from the University of Missouri at Columbia. He taught high school at Salisbury High School in Salisbury, Mo., and later at Webster Groves High School in Webster Groves, Mo. From 1958 to 1979, he was a professor of industrial and technical education at Southeast Missouri State University.

He helped organize the Southeast Missouri Industrial Association and also initiated the electronics program at SEMO and the ITE Club.

In 1958, he moved to the Jackson area and was a member of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Cape, where he had served as an elder.

He was a veteran of World War II, having served in the U.S. Navy.

Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to Saxony Lutheran High School.