The Longview Daily News, October 14, 2004 www.tnd.com Former area funeral home owner dies By Leslie Slape Oct 14, 2004 - 07:36:24 am PDT ________________________________________ Don McVicker, who once co-owned every funeral home in Cowlitz County, died Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 75. His great love for people made business a pleasure, said his wife of nearly 54 years, Laura. "He was definitely a people person," she said. "He said if it had been just the work, he never would have gotten into it. ... If you aren't a caring person, you might as well not be in this business." "He was just a very compassionate man," said Rick Little, manager of Steele Chapel at Longview Memorial Park, who worked with McVicker for 16 years. "He loved his family and his work. He was always greeting people and meeting people, and he knew everybody." Born July 2, 1929, in Portland, McVicker grew up in Vancouver and worked for Hamilton Funeral Home in Vancouver after his graduation from San Francisco College of Mortuary Science Mutual friends introduced him to Laura at the Jantzen Beach Park in Portland. They were married three months later on Dec. 17, 1950, in Vancouver. Two months later, McVicker was drafted into the Army and served in the Korean War. After the Army learned he was a funeral director, his duties included searching for, recovering and identifying the dead, his wife said. After his discharge, the McVickers moved to Kelso in August 1953 and raised three sons, Lauren, Tim and Monte, and a daughter, Cindy. They moved to Cathlamet about 20 years ago and moved to Longview in August. Don McVicker took over the Reardon Funeral Home at 209 S. Third Ave., Kelso, in 1953 and soon welcomed his brother, Larry, as a partner. In 1958 McVicker's Chapel on the Hill opened on Cowlitz Way, and the McVickers eventually opened other chapels. In 1983 the McVickers merged operations with the Ditlevsen-Moore funeral homes, owned by Ken Dahl. The partners owned all the funeral homes in Longview, Kelso, Castle Rock, Toledo and Cathlamet until Columbia Funeral Service opened in 1985. In 1989 the Loewen Group of British Columbia bought the Dahl-McVicker funeral homes. By the time Ken Dahl bought them back in 2000, the McVickers were semi- retired. Laura McVicker said it's hard to put an exact date on when her husband finally retired, but it was "around 2001." In earlier years, his hobbies included flying -- he made a solo transcontinental flight in his Piper Comanche in 1970 -- snow skiing, roller skating and kajukenbo, his wife said. Family gatherings were always special, daughter Cindy Nordstrom said. "At holidays and family get-togethers, he was at his best, full of humor and fun," she said. Later years centered around their home in Cathlamet, which they initially bought as a weekend retreat in 1972. "It was right on the river," Laura McVicker said wistfully. "We had our own harbor and boat launch and 750 feet of river frontage. It was gorgeous." It was hard for her parents to leave the place, Nordstrom said, but her father seemed to have a premonition that his time was short and wanted to put his affairs in order. The service is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Longview Church of the Nazarene.