Donald Fennell Driscoll

Donald Fennell Driscoll of McCall, Idaho, passed away on December 1, 2021 after a short illness in San Jose del Cabo, Baja California Sur, Mexico at the age of 81.

Donald was born in San Francisco, California on April 16, 1940 to Donald Joseph Driscoll and Claire Josephine Fennell.

He graduated from Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose, California in 1958. He attended the University of California, Davis for a semester before attending the University of San Francisco. Donald studied accounting and was a member of the professional business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi. While attending the University of San Francisco, Donald enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1961. He was discharged from active duty in 1962, and continued as a reservist for four years while attending the university.

Donald's long career in farming began in his teenage years working for his father. He was the 4th generation Driscoll to grow strawberries in Northern California. Donald met the challenges of farming head on, where he constantly thought "outside the box", pushing beyond the traditional farming methods of growing strawberries. He had the ability to recognize talented, hardworking and ambitious people and used various business structures to give them opportunities to develop and grow themselves.

Donald served on the Board of Directors of Driscoll's for over twenty years and in various executive positions. In addition, he served on the Board of Directors of Western Growers Association, the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency, the Santa Cruz County Fair Board and was appointed by Governor George Deukmejian to the California Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Donald was selected for Class 2 of the California Agricultural Leadership Program, where he improved his leadership, communication and critical thinking skills. This program also included foreign travel to twelve countries in two years.

In addition to agriculture, Donald pursued other business interests, developing residential property in Santa Cruz County and commercial property around Palm Springs. He formed an oil company called TWT (Time Will Tell) Oil Company that traded substantial oil futures contracts and developed oil and gas wells in Texas. Donald supported the founding of Idaho First Bank in McCall, Idaho, a business-focused resort community bank, and served on the Board of Directors.

Donald committed time to service clubs where he performed charitable work by hands-on efforts or helped to raise money for other organizations. He was a past President of the Santa Cruz Jaycees and was very proud to have been a part of the building of a sports park and playground in Santa Cruz dedicated to one of their members Mike Fox. Donald was a charter member and past president of the Rotary Club in Freedom, California, and he also participated in the McCall, Idaho and Todos Santos, Mexico clubs. Donald lived the Rotary Motto of "service above self", especially when it came to a Rotary "Day of Service". In McCall, Idaho, the annual Woodstock Day was his favorite, a day where the club split 100 cords of wood into firewood for those in the community in need of warmth for the winter.

Donald was guided by his strong Catholic faith. He was a parishioner at Holy Eucharist in Corralitos, California, Iglesia Sagrado Corazon de Jesus in Pescadero, Baja California Sur, Mexico and Our Lady of the Lake in McCall, Idaho.

Donald will be remembered for his generosity, service to his community, competitive spirit and love of his wife, children and grandchildren.

Donald is survived by his wife Vivian Driscoll; his sister Nancy Driscoll; his daughter Bridget Driscoll-Fairhurst and son-in-law Steve Fairhurst; his son Brian Driscoll and daughter-in-law Randy Driscoll; his stepdaughter Elizabeth Squier Gwinn; and his grandchildren Celeste Sorenson, Riley and Kyra Driscoll, and Jacob and Dylan Gwinn.

Please join us for a Celebration of Life and breakfast as we honor the extraordinary life of Donald Driscoll at the Chaminade Resort & Spa, 1 Chaminade Lane, Santa Cruz on March 31, 2022 from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm.

Published in The Pajaronian · March 3, 2022