Donald Becker

Dr. Donald Leo Becker

Services for former long-time Casper resident Dr. Donald Leo Becker will be held 11:00am
October 25th at Newcomer Family Funeral Home. He passed away Friday, September 21 in San Antonio, Texas at the age of 84.

He was born April 12, 1923 in Boulder, CO to Frederick and Frances Becker and grew up in
Denver. He graduated from the Univ. of Denver and the University of Colorado Medical School (1946). He completed his internship at McGill University in Montreal.
He was inducted into active service in the Army Medical Corps and served in Washington, D.C. for two years. After residency training in both forensic and anatomic pathology
at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, he and his family returned to Casper in 1952. In 1996 he and his wife moved to the Texas gulf coast.

As the first pathologist in Casper, he introduced several local public health measures including milk pasteurization and mosquito abatement. He obtained his pilot's license and flew around the state to provide pathology service to other towns
for many years. Together with Brendan Phibbs, MD he established a streptococcal throat culture program in the school system that significantly reduced the incidence of rheumatic heart fever in Casper. Programs modeled after this had effect in other areas of the US and are having an effect worldwide.

In 1977 he was a Volunteer Visiting Specialist in Kabul, Afghanistan for Care Medico where he found pathology practice identical to Casper's 25 years previous. He introduced and upgraded laboratory procedures in Kabul and Kandahar and taught techniques to medical staff - doctors, nurses, and medical students.

Throughout his life he loved western outdoor life - backpacking, camping, fishing, and bird hunting. He and his wife, Katheryn, traveled extensively. They backpacked in Nepal and Patagonia, visited Egypt, Lebanon, India, Sri Lanka, Maldive Islands, Morocco, Tunisia, Iberia, England, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand,
Easter Island, and Canada, and made many trips to Mexico.

He used painting to describe his feelings about the cultures and people he came to know. He was honored when he was invited into the Scotch and Watercolor Society of Casper.

He also enjoyed wood-working, particularly cabinet making, and applied these skills to the family cabin near Cody.

He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Katheryn (Jenkins) of San Antonio; three children – Alan (Cody, Wyoming), Ann (Lee Allison, Tucson, Arizona), and Janet
Rodgers (Oxford, United Kingdom); and grandsons Christopher
(San Francisco, California) and Peter Rodgers, (Saint Louis Missouri).

Those wishing to make an expression of sympathy may consider Blue Envelope, P. O. Box 2177, Casper,Wyoming 82602 or a charity of their choice.


Newcomer Family Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements.