I’m sorry to report the death of Don Angerhofer on 11 November 2019, at 90.
Don was a founding (1948) member of the Illinois Tech Model Railroad Club; number one in seniority.
Don was also a founding member of the Illinois Live Steamers in Homer Glen, Ill., and may have owned part of the average it is built on.
Don graduated from the same high school (Steinmetz 1948) that my brother and I did, only years earlier, we did not get to know him until we joined the ITMR.
Like many ITMR members, Don started working a summer job, and like others, never returned to classes at IIT, but was a locomotive engineer for AT&SF for 47 years.
Don was an expert in all things railroad, plus many other disciplines; a renaissance man!
Attached below is a PDF written by his wife Pam, it is filled with great information about Don’s life.
Also attached are four photos of Don instructing my brother at the first steam up of Glenn’s new locomotive.
Tho Glenn did not believe in such things, maybe Don & Glenn are now in some Valhalla running steam locomotives.
On behalf of all members of the Illinois Tech Model Railroad Club, I wish to offer our condolences to Pam and her family.
Ron Peisker
Ps, It is to be noted that both died from different forms of leukemia my brother CML, after four years of fighting it, on 27 July 2019, Don, AML, on 11 November 2019, just a few months after being diagnosed.
It behoves, any of us who have ever dealt with oils/chemicals to get a check up ASAP if any changes occur in our health!
The reason it is the last Locomotive made by Steam Age USA, is that owner Ray Pannell, the Englishman turned Texan, died from some form of cancer during its construction ~ 2006.