National Guard Training Ctr: Col Martin Devine,  Mary Beth Devine, Brigadier General Donn Devine

His obituary ran 8100 words. You read that correctly – 8100 words. He wrote it himself in January of 2019. It was published last month. Facts. Bits and pieces of plans, accomplishments, and dreams broken and still unrealized. And words. It was always about the words.

Donn Devine Age 4 finding Zen in the sandbox

Donn Devine was, in his description, a sickly child. He spent time with books and taught himself to draw and paint. He found that words and maps were important tools and had the power to take people anywhere and change them. It started a lifelong love affair whose depth was surpassed only by his 70 year one with Mum.

He painted sporadically, did photography as a hobby and for cash money, wrote, and surprisingly sang in his high school choir. If he was home, he’d sing after dinner while mum played the piano – show tunes, light opera. And he loved jazz – everybody from Pete Fountain to Matt Shipp. There’s also a story of one night at a friend’s house and singing with the Von Trapps. His tastes were such that years later, he’d walk a fussy grandson softly singing Gaudeamus Igitur, Words. And “every child should be exposed to other languages.” He was, by all accounts “brilliant’. He skipped grades in elementary school, graduated from Archmere Academy at 17, and got his chemistry degree from UD at 20 and became a writer for Hercules, then a development chemist for Allied Chemical. He gave it up for writing for the company because he knew he didn’t have the imagination needed. So – back to writing – Newspapers (as writer and editor), political campaigns, scripts for a diocesan radio show.  And even in the 50s, newspaper reporting was not the most stable of jobs. He went back to the chemistry business, but this time as a publications editor.

DuPont St Armory 1968

 My dad Donn Devine joined the Army Reserve in 1950 and in 1954 was commissioned as an artillery officer knowing nothing about artillery. (He was in fact assigned to HQ doing public information ay the time.) A few years later he started the ‘coveted’ schools – learning about Ajax and Hercules missiles and nuclear warfare, silos and codes. I just remember us being on our own – a 3 minute phone call on Sunday, and a letter to his girl child  trying to explain why he wasn’t home, why this was important, how there were people who wanted power so much that they were willing to destroy the world to keep it. And, most importantly, I was to remember that somewhere in Russia, there was a little girl whose daddy was also away and who didn’t want to see the world destroyed and I should remember to pray for them. Words. Carefully chosen words.

It was said at his funeral that he wore his Irishness and his faith on his sleeve and once you understood that it all became clear. I’ve been thinking about that and it’s probably the most succinct description of Da that I’ve ever heard. He really thought that one person could make a ripple that could change (at least) their corner of the world. Donn Devine was not a typical dad – On Saturdays when most would be playing golf, or beautifying lawns, he would take me downtown to a coffee shop where news reporters, businessmen and politicians would stop and discuss news and happenings, both local and in places like Vietnam and Cuba.  He was as good a dad as he knew how. Tuitions were paid to private schools for his remaining precocious children and somehow the money was found for Boy Scout uniforms, speech therapy, music lessons, and ballet slippers. Being totally un-athletic, he never understood sports and left it to mum to teach my brother how to pitch and how to put a spin on a football. But dammit he would sit stoically in a downpour or a snowstorm for homecoming or an Army game.

He loved his city and country and sometimes it was at our expense. He got to see his dream of an abandoned riverfront shipyard become a walkable neighborhood of flats, shops, and outdoor concert areas and saw the Kalmar Nyckel recreated and sail coastal waters. But sometimes words simply weren’t enough.  Sometimes everybody pays a price for another’s dreams and visions.

I asked him once on the anniversary of the Selma March if he had been afraid. He looked at me despairing that his girl child would ever understand anything and asked in reply “What did we have to be afraid of?” “I don’t know. Troopers on horseback with batons? Dogs that hadn’t been fed in three days?” “We were together. We were doing what we believed was right. That was more important than being afraid.”He wasn’t there when the phone rang all night and mum finally stopped answering.

Donn Devine National Genealogy Award 2018 with an admirer

He worked in genealogy for forever and saved everything. What started as a simple family history and diocesan archives work became a last career of Irish and archival research with a final detour (and becoming rather an expert) in the mysteries of genetics and genealogy – writing, lecturing, and possibly signing autographs. He eschewed the title of ‘rockstar’ that Megan bestowed on him. I can say from experience that probably the best times were dissecting the day’s workshops in the bar; It was never about ‘talking’, but ideas, concepts, history, discussing, conversing with such amazing, interesting, and loving friends. Throughout the years my “Da”, Donn Devine ‘collected’ people – people who interested him, with whom he could share ideas. Authors, artists, elected officials, scientists and inventors, bishops, a baroness, some famous, some infamous, and always his beloved news writers and genealogists for whom there was always time. Once you were part of his circle, you were there for life.

Funeral May 17,  2019 – Photo by Fred Comegys

There is a meme that reads in part: “At the end of your life, go out with a bruised-up, worn out heart that gave too much, loved too strongly, and felt too fiercely. Go out with the certainty you gave it everything you had and didn’t hold anything back.”  Words that explain a soul. He would say this is too long. It needs tightening. 8100 words in the obit. There aren’t enough of them. He died May 5 at 3:15 PM

–Mary Beth Devine, Guest Contributor

Mary Beth wrote a tribute to “Da” Donn Devine, while he was still with us, in 2011 for Father’s Day  and  in April of 2011 for Patriot’s Day here. My favorite perfume article by MBD is Scents to Wear for the Apocalypse: A Perfumista’s Guide –Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief