Don Veirs

Don Veirs died July 28, 2024 at the age of 82. He was born and raised in Berkeley California where there were apparently enough bugs to launch him on his life-long love affair with insects. He graduated from UC Berkeley with a B.S. degree in Entomology and some years later got an M.S. degree from U of Idaho, Moscow.

He was fortunate to be able to have a career in his field at the USDA Bee Lab in Logan where he worked with pollinators. He visited school rooms around the Valley introducing kids to insects and was able to happily combine his two passions, fly fishing and bugs, by teaching a class in Entomology for Fly Fiishermen at the Teton Science School in Jackson WY for several summers.

He traveled the world and could be found looking for bugs under street lights in Beijing or on a dusty road in Uganda and all places in between. He was often at the center of a group of interested bystanders where he used the occasion for a teachable moment. Beyond his passion for bugs and fly fishing he had an eclectic interest in all things natural; but his many interests extended to the arts and beyond. He was an accomplished wood worker and dabbled at one time in silk screening.

He is survived by a nephew, Slater Veirs and his family, of Colfax CA, and two step-sons, Scott and Andy Parker. And last but certainly not least, a host of wonderful friends and fellow geezers he accumulated along the way through work and fly fishing.

He will be remembered for his wicked sense of humor and his battles with all things electronic, most notably his phone and CPAP machine. He left a trove of fly tying materials, enough to start a very nice fly tying shop.

Many thanks to his many friends for their support, Williamsburg for its continued support during his five year stay there, and Hospice for making the last few months of his life much much better than it would otherwise have been. He will be greatly missed.