Remembering Donald Raymond Haws

Age 88, Jacksonville, Fla.
Passed away on March 19, 2020

Loving husband, father and grandfather, he is survived by five children: Robert Haws (Catherine), Jeanne Haws (Fred Daniele), Barbara Haws, Mary Redmond (Daniel), and Susan Clifford (William); and nine grandchildren: Russell Haws (Michelle), Ann Demi, John Demi, Elizabeth Clifford, Timothy Clifford, Grace Clifford, Frederick Daniele, Denise Redmond, and Kelly Redmond; plus several cousins, nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his wife, Lorraine, two brothers, Richard (Dick) and Robert, and parents Louise and Robert Haws. Don was born in Philadelphia, was raised in Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia suburbs and was a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania undergraduate and law schools, having attended both on full academic scholarships. As a teenager, he was active in student government, high school drama and musical productions, served as class president at Prospect Park High School, and was voted "Most Likely to Succeed." Immediately after law school, he was drafted into the military and served as an instructor in the U.S. Army stationed in Columbia, SC when he married Lorraine in 1956. The Haws family lived in Havertown and Bryn Mawr, PA from 1956-1969, before eventually settling in Grovers Mill, NJ where they lived until 1988. Don worked for the Equitable Life Insurance Co., first in sales and then in their internal communications department. At age 51, with two of five children in college, he made the bold move of getting a new job at the JCPenney Co, and in 1988 he and Lorraine moved to Plano, TX where he completed his career with Penney. They then moved to Jacksonville, FL in 1992, where they lived for more than 25 years, being active members of the Deercreek Country Club and traveling the world. Don believed strongly in the ethical responsibility of service to others, and spent a lifetime giving back to his communities. He was in the church choir while in Bryn Mawr, PA, and active in the community theater there, as well. In NJ, he spent years on the West Windsor Township Planning Board, including several years as Chair. He led the 10am Folk Mass for several years at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Princeton and, with this wife, taught confirmation class. He was instrumental in getting a new parish, St. David the King, built in West Windsor Township. He was not only a Eucharistic minister in his parishes in NJ and TX but administered Holy Eucharist to hospital patients and shut-ins on a monthly basis. He also served as a Eucharistic minister and was on the parish council at Holy Family Catholic Church in Jacksonville. In recent years, he was part of a group that provided free support to people needing help to complete their tax returns. He was on the board of the Jacksonville Area Golf Association and served as President from 2003-2004. In his final two years, he was active at his residence – Camellia at Deerwood – participating on the committee responsible for the distribution of year-end holiday gifts to the staff. Family was always of utmost importance to Don, and in the past two years since Lorraine's death, he spent all his travel time visiting his children and grandchildren up and down the East Coast. He had many friends and relatives across the country and the world, and all will miss him dearly.

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