Donald Caspar Rehkopf, 90, died on Feb. 20, 2013 in Ellensburg, Wash. He broke his hip last October while visiting his daughters and never fully recovered. Born on Oct. 18, 1922 in Petoskey, Mich., he grew-up in Berwyn and served in the Army Amphibian Engineers in the South Pacific during World War II. He received a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from M.I.T. in 1948 and worked for the Cook County Highway Department before getting a master’s degree in English literature in 1954 from the University of Chicago.
He taught English for more than 30 years at Oak Park and River Forest High School. He met his wife, JoAnn, in the oboe section of the Oak Park Civic Symphony and they married in 1953, settling in Elmwood Park. He loved Wordsworth, Keats and Thomas Traherne, and called himself an “adherer to the high promise of Christian religious faith.”
Don Rehkopf is survived by his daughters, Jill Christy (Dean) Smith and Carrie Beth (John) Michel; and his grandchildren, Soren and Tacey Smith, Alec, Marcus and Luke Michel. He was preceded in death by his wife, JoAnn Green Rehkopf; his daughter, Tacey Louise Rehkopf; and his parents, Caspar Henderson and Catherine Louise (Densmore) Rehkopf.
A memorial service is planned for August.