Donald Marvin Heinen

Donald Marvin Heinen was born in Lewiston, Idaho, on July 3, 1928. He was married for 72 years to his high school sweetheart and the love of his life, Dolores Kennedy Heinen. He lived a long and successful life for 98 years, and he will be sorely missed by those whose lives he touched.

Don lived in Clarkston, Washington throughout his high school years, working after school and weekends to help support his maternal grandparents who raised him. At age 15, he bicycled across the bridge over the Snake River to find and meet the father he had never met.

In his early twenties, he operated a camera shop in downtown Lewiston doing freelance photography, photos for the Lewiston Police Department, commercial customers, and the Lewiston Tribune. Don’s been in the radio business since he started selling ads at 22 for KBKH in Pullman, WA. When a new station owned by Cole Wiley came to Lewiston, he started working for him and was part of every step as the new station was built. Over the years, Don worked at radio stations in Chehalis, Kennewick, and Pasco, Washington; Corvallis and Hood River, Oregon; and Lewiston and Pocatello, Idaho. He was a licensed amateur radio operator since boyhood and holder of a broadcast engineering ticket since his early contact with the world of commercial radio.

Don started flying while still in high school, building up solo hours and washing airplanes to earn flying time. He soloed as a high school boy in a J-3 Cub and built up flying hours, but stepped away from it until the Corvallis years when he earned his private pilot’s license in 1960. While in Yakima, he bought a Piper Tripacer, and other members of his family also learned to fly.

Don moved to Yakima in June 1966 as general manager of KUTI radio. He held majority ownership of KUTI-AM, and continued to grow his radio empire adding KXDD-FM, and KOTY-AM and KHWK-FM with the support of his business partners Loal Smith and Clarence Jensen.

Don believed in supporting his community. Don served on the Yakima County Broadcasters Association, was on the Board of Directors of the Washington State Broadcasters Association, and served on the Fort Simcoe Boy Scout Council. He was active in the Yakima Chamber of Commerce and served on the Chamber of Commerce Airport Committee. Don served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Washington State Fair Association, including a tenure as President of the Board. He was instrumental in making the Yakima Sun Dome a reality. He served on the Yakima Airport Advisory Committee, the Mayor’s Airport Advisory Committee, and the Yakima Air Terminal Board.

Don was preceded in death by his wife, Dolores Kennedy Heinen; his father, Peter B. Heinen; and his mother Ruby Heinen Martin. He is survived by his son David E. Heinen (Wilsonville, OR), daughter Della Heinen Heideman (Ione, OR), son Douglas R. Heinen (Auburn, WA), and son Dean A. Heinen (Selah, WA).