Marblehead legend and contributor Donald Humphreys just recently passed away at the age of 91. In 2012, he put on a memorable celebration of the centennial of Marine Corps Aviation. He helped to rehabilitate the Hammond Park on Commercial Street to honor Starling Burgess and he helped to make Marblehead as the official birthplace of Marines in aviation.

Upon his death, fellow Marine and friend Don Macaulay said, “‘Semper Fidelis’ is the motto of the Marines. It means ‘forever faithful,’ and Don Humphreys defined it. And it guided his life beyond the Marine Corps and into his friendships and his loved ones and organizations he had sworn to.”

Signing up for the Marine Corps on December 8, 1941, he went to the South Pacific theater where he spent six months on Gaudalcanal in the Solomon Islands before going to other tactical assignments. He rose to the level of master sergeant and then returned to Marblehead and married Ruth Treat.

After the war, he become a mechanic and pilot. While he was best known as a Marine, he was also a businessman and inventor with several patents under his belt.
He founded his own company, Custom Radius Corporation, which was a designer, manufacturer and distributor of ice-skate-care equipment.

In his later years, he spent a great deal of time doing things for Marblehead and the Marine Corp. As Grader said, “The truth of the matter is, it was because of Don’s efforts that the Marine Corps designated Marblehead as the ‘Birthplace of Marine Corps Aviation. We all knew that Cunningham was the first Marine pilot to get his wings, but none of us knew it was in Marblehead where he soloed until Humphreys’ research.”

He was honored with the Marblehead Chamber of Commerce’s Rey Moulton Person of the Year in 2012 for his execution of the centennial celebration.

After his wife died of cancer, Humphreys met Lili Rowen, with whom he had a wonderful relationship. Asked to comment on his character, Rowen said, “He was a Marine — that is all you have to publish.”