THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 27, 1996 TAG: 9601270209
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
Donald John Gonzales, a former White House, State Department and United Nations correspondent and later senior vice president of Colonial Williamsburg, died Jan. 24, 1996.
He was a United Press correspondent in Washington and New York for 16 years, starting in Washington just before World War II. After serving a four-year wartime tour with the U.S. Army Air Corps as a pilot, including graduation from the Army's Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., he returned to the Washington Bureau of the United Press. There, he covered the Navy Department, State Department and White House during the Eisenhower Administration, with a brief stint in New York covering the United Nations.
He directed planning arrangements for more than 100 heads of state and scores of U.S. VIPs who visited Colonial Williamsburg as well as supervising community, media and public relations and special events. He was promoted to vice president in 1978 and retired on New Year's Day, 1983.
He was credited with playing a primary role in establishing Colonial Williamsburg's financial development plan. He and his wife, Mary, enjoyed a warm personal relationship with Lila and Dewitt Wallace, co-founders of ``The Reader's Digest'', who later became major donors to Colonial Williamsburg.
Service was an important part of his makeup. He was a member of the Virginia Cultural Development Study Commission and in 1968 was elected first chairman of the New Virginia Commission of the Arts and Humanities, holding that post for two years. He authored ``Travel and the Arts'', a comprehensive survey of and plan for methods in which travel, culture and the arts could benefit through cooperation.
He also served for 13 years as a member of the Citizen's Committee for the Virginia Executive Mansion. He served as a member of the board of trustees of the Mariner's Museum and as a vice chairman for the Interlochen (Michigan) Center for the Arts.
One of his most cherished awards, shared with his wife, Mary, was the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, given in 1979 by the College of William and Mary for ``Sincere commitment to improving the quality of life in the community in which they lived and from a very obvious love for the College of William and Mary and its people.'' They were the first couple ever so honored since the first award in 1925.
He was a member of the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., and The Harvard Clubs of Virginia and New York City. He held an active pilot's rating, continuing to fly many hours after he retired from the Air Force Reserve as a full colonel.
He was preceded in death by his daughter, Mrs. Nancy Turner, in 1994.
He is survived by his wife, the former Mary Tolhurst, of Elmwood, Neb.; two daughters, Mrs. Cheryl Yeaman of Richmond and Mrs. Barbara Burnett of Fairfax; one son, John Richard Gonzales of Williamsburg; six grandchildren and one great-grandson.
A funeral service conducted by the Rev. Richard L. May will be held Saturday at 4 p.m. at Bruton Parish Church, Williamsburg. Interment will be private. Following the service, the family will receive friends at their home, 506 South England Street, Williamsburg, from 5 to 7 p.m. Should friends desire, memorial gifts for student scholarships may be made to: The Colonial Williamsburg, P.O. Box 1776, Williamsburg, Va. 23187, or the Interlochen Center For the Arts, Interlochen, Mich. 49643. Arrangements by Hogg Funeral Home, Gloucester Point.
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY by CNB