Don Edward Denny

Don Edward Denny, 87, of Savoy, Ill., died on Saturday, Jan. 13, 2024 at Danville, Ill.

Mr. Denny was born Feb. 20, 1936 in Cloverdale, the son of Willard Doyle Denny and Crystal Branson Denny.

He married Phyllis M. Neese in 1954. He married Barbara A. Bohor, who survives him, in 1982.

Mr. Denny graduated from Cloverdale High School in 1954. He later attended Parkland College in Champaign, Ill. He had four years of training as a butcher and ran a butcher shop for a year before his 19th birthday. He joined IBM Corporation, Greencastle, in 1955 as a 402/403 Accounting Machine rebuilder. He also ran letter and offset printing presses and was an inventory clerk.

In 1963, he was trained in Lexington, Ky., as an office machine customer engineer. He spent the rest of his IBM career repairing IBM typewriters, time clocks, printing equipment and desk computers based in Champaign, Ill, retiring in 1987.

Upon retiring, he bought several houses and restored them to rental properties. He enjoyed all phases of the restoration. He retired from the rental property business in 2002.

Don was a disabled veteran who served in the early Vietnam era. He was an offset press operator and an accounting machine operator serving in the U.S. Army at Ft. Bliss, El Paso, Texas, in 1959-61. He was a member of the Hurst-Collins American Legion Post 281.

Mr. Denny trained as an auctioneer in Kansas City, Kan., in 1971. He enjoyed donating his skills with nonprofit organizations such as the Unitarian Church, McKinley Foundation, CASA, Country Side School, the Sierra Club and his grandfather Branson’s estate sale.

Don enjoyed history and genealogy and had his DNA tested long before it was popular, participating in a Denny research group. He volunteered photographing memorial stones for findagrave.com (http://findagrave.com), often riding his motorcycle to remote cemeteries. He was also a local history buff. One of his earliest memories was walking in the 1939 Cloverdale Centennial Parade with his family. His father, dressed as a cowboy, rode his horse, his brother Jack rode his Shetland pony, Charm, and Don followed them pulling a red wagon filled with Dalmation puppies and his brother Jimmy.

Don bought his first BMW motorcycle in 1970 and rode over 300,000 miles in 50 years. He and Barb attended 47 national rallies and camped in all of the 48 lower states as well as Alaska and Canada.

Don was a generous man, often sharing his knowledge and time helping family members and friends building and restoring their homes and projects. As a landlord, he took the time to assist a tenant to qualify for veteran’s benefits. Don’s advice and opinions were backed by his avid reading, native intelligence and practical experience.

Also surviving him are his daughter, Deborah K. Zbinden and husband Ray of St. Joseph, Ill.; grandson Brian Zbinden (Courtney Schlueter) and Courtney’s children, Maggie, Jesse and Jake of Royal, Ill.; his stepchildren, Sue Bohor (Ron Sundell) of Marquette, Mich., Jacqui Auterman of Champaign, Ill., Laurie Roth (Mark) of Seattle, Wash., and Tom Bohor (Evelyn) of Arvada, Colo., and Barb’s grandchildren, Eric and Matthew Sundell, Jesse Auterman, Will and Abigail Roth and Benjamin Bohor.

He is remembered by siblings Jerry U. Denny (Susie) and Diana Brumfield (Lonnie) of Cloverdale; niece Brittany Brumfield of Indianapolis; nephews Bret Brumfield of Indianapolis, Steve Denny of Indianapolis and Scott Denny of Cloverdale; and sisters in-law Melanie Denny of Trafalgar and Pat Denny of Greencastle.

He was preceded in death by his parents and brothers Jack Denny, James E. Denny and Willard M. Denny.

A celebration of life is set for Saturday, April 20 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Sunset’s Champaign Chapel, 710 N. Neil St., Champaign, IL 61820.