Don James Farquhar

Don James Farquhar, 84, died peacefully on January 25, 2016 in Indianapolis, Indiana. He was born in Litchfield, Illinois, on November 17, 1931, to Ray and Katherine (Dolan) Farquhar and was raised in Ontario, California. He married his Chaffey High School sweetheart, Billie Marie Bare, in 1952. He earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley in 1953.
While living in Ontario, Don worked for Orange Products, then joined his brother, Rex, at Aerojet as an aeronautical engineer. He and Billie enjoyed Square Dancing and adventures with their two sons at Huntington Beach and camping and hiking through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 1964, he and his family trekked cross-country in their move to State College, Pennsylvania, where Don worked at ORI in association with the Water Tunnel for submarine guidance systems at The Pennsylvania State University. He moved to Portsmouth, Rhode Island, in 1986 to finish his career on the Butterfly Switch at BBN.
In 1997, he retired to the small community of Rogersville, Tennessee. There he pursued his lifelong passions of genealogy, gardening, and traveling, and experiencing the great outdoors with his beloved wife of over 60 years. In Tennessee, he volunteered for the Morristown Senior Center and was instrumental in automating the Hawkins County Archives. He was an NRA Golden Eagle. In August, 2015, he left Tennessee to be closer to family in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Don was preceded in death by his wife, Billie (Bare) Farquhar; his father and mother, Ray and Katherine Farquhar; his brother, Rex Farquhar; and his sister, June (Farquhar) Lewis.
Don is survived by his two sons and daughters-in-law, Dann Jay and Nancy (Hoy) of Elgin, Illinois, and Kevin Mark and Janice (Sagan) of Alexandria, Virginia; eleven grandchildren, Elizabeth Joy Sobota, Lynn Marie Farquhar, Gregory Sagan Farquhar, Benjamin Allen Farquhar, Matthew David Farquhar, Christopher Clement Farquhar, Kyla Ruth Farquhar, Rachel Marie Martin, Michael Josiah Farquhar, Daniel James Farquhar, and Joseph William Farquhar; and ten great - grandchildren, Kiera Joy, Shawn Michael, and Angel Marie Sobota (Elizabeth), Sagan Michael, Caden Murphy, William Alan, and Theodore Adent Farquhar (Gregory) and Landon James, Jason Reed, and Sawyer Alexander Martin (Rachel).
No funeral service will be held at this time.
The family wishes to express their appreciation to the staff at Clearvista Lake Health Campus in Indianapolis who so lovingly cared for Don.
Memorial donations can be made to the National Parkinson Foundation, 200 SE 1st Street, Suite 800, Miami, FL 33131; or at www.parkinson.org