Donald Irving Chappell's Obituary
Donald (Don) Irving Chappell
March 17, 1947 – April 24, 2026 Don, a cherished husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather passed away on April 24th 2026 at the age of 79.
He leaves behind a legacy of love, laughter and countless treasured memories. Born on March 17th, 1947 to Irving and Hazel Chappell, he grew up in the Pacific Northwest and resided in St. Helens, Oregon.
Don started a long and dedicated career in the trucking industry that began with delivering oil to homes in Columbia County while he attended college at Cascade. He bought his first dump truck and started delivering top soil to local Columbia County. Shortly after that, he contracted with Weyerhauser to build logging roads on Mt St Helens. Later he was supplying daily cover to the St Johns land fill via the clay pit operation on Cornelius Pass. By then he had multiple companies (Chappell Transportation, Nanco NW, Commercial Transport, American Container, American Compost, American Landscape Supply, Chappell Enterprises) that included dump trucking, flat bedding, garbage hauling, and container work. In 1983 he was the first trucking company to haul garbage out of the newly opened Oregon City Transfer Station to be transported to the St Johns Landfill. He was also one of the first to pioneer yard debris recycling in Portland Oregon. Lastly, he bought an old gas station in Hillsboro, Oregon and turned it into a successful landscape supply store prior to his retirement.
In 1994 Don met and married Jan Meadows. Both shared a love for German Shepherds which is how they met (introduced by his brother Wayne Chappell). They used to joke that he came over to check out the puppies when he was really there to meet Jan! At the time,
Don had a female GS named Anja and Jan owned a female named Ana. Over the next 32 years, they built a life together along with her children, John and Marla. Some of their adventures included spending time with family in Hoodsport where he loved to fish and crab in Hoods Canal. They would camp in a way that people now refer to as “glamping”. Their vacation spot was complete with a firepit, private fully plumbed bathroom, waterfall, dog pen, horse pen, and separate family camp sites so that we could all go camping together. He told Jan she would never be bored and he kept that promise till his last day and she was by his side for every second of it.
His first wife, Nancy Dobson was married January 31st 1969 and they had three children together, Dan, Dianne and Debbie.
Upon his retirement, Don enjoyed buying and selling heavy equipment and had customers as far away as Australia who he became very good friends with. Every year on the 4th of July, he would line up his collection of tractors adorned with the American flag, and sometimes drive them in a parade around the block.
His hobbies included spending time in the shop, sitting by the wood stove and drinking coffee with family and friends and talking about the next project. He had a passion for buying/restoring and selling tractors and heavy equipment. He loved to process firewood for the shop and running his track-hoe. He LOVED a good garage/estate sale. Don was known for his skill at running heavy equipment. He could operate machinery with such finesse and skill, he made it look easy! One of our memories, is a story that Grandpa Irving shared…dad had spent the day shoving the rock of the top of a cliff to pile it below for the rock crusher. He had built a rock pile up till it was 10-12 feet from the top of the cliff. At the end of the day, everybody was waiting down below for him to come down from the cliff. Instead of walking the dozer around the long way, he lit up his stogie and launched the dozer off the top of the cliff to land on the rock pile below and rode the pile all the way down to the bottom. He parked the dozer next to the work crew, set the blade down, shut the engine off and said “I’ll fire anybody that I catch doing that”!
He was known for his ability to remain calm in extremely stressful situations and for his way of constantly correcting your grammar (credit goes to his mother Hazel who was a school teacher for 45 years!) He will also be remembered for his many sayings, one of which was “Find a need and fill it”. Don was also incredibly gifted when it came to music. He was first chair saxophone in school and was a very gifted pianist. As children, he would want us to sit next to him on the bench and “Name that Tune!”
Don is survived by his wife Jan, two sisters Mary and Peggy, his children Dan, Dianne, Debbie, Marla, and John, his grandchildren Bradley, Jeremy, Mitch, Ashley, Mariah,
Danielle, MacKenna, Chloe, Wayde, Bo, Linc, and great grandchildren, Maverick, Warren, Noah, Laura, Rowan, Asher, JD, Aspen, Leah, and Mark.
Don will be remembered for his devotion and love to his family and his legacy will live on through the memories he leaves behind.
Marker lights in the sun set
Celebration of Life to be announced at a later date
What’s your fondest memory of Donald?
What’s a lesson you learned from Donald?
Share a story where Donald's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Donald you’ll never forget.
How did Donald make you smile?