Funeral services for James Donald (Don) Halsell of West Monroe will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday December 5, 2015 in the Historic Chapel at Fair Park Baptist Church, 4412 White Ferry Road, West Monroe, under the direction of Kilpatrick Funeral Home. Surrounded by his family, Don passed away peacefully in his home on December 1, 2015, following a long illness. Pastor Waymond Warren will officiate the funeral, aided by Dr. Jerry Edmondson. Interment will follow in Hasley Cemetery. Friends and family are cordially invited to the Halsell home following the service for reminiscing and greeting.Don Halsell was born June 17, 1928 to John Clinton and Lisa Ann Marina Owens Halsell, early settlers in the White Ferry community of West Monroe. Don had a happy childhood and youth playing along DArbonne Bayou and the Ouachita River, and helping out on his parents dairy farm. Kimple cousins from Dallas, TX, and Rutledge cousins from Lapine, LA, often visited. Don attended Crosley and Millsaps elementary schools, graduating from Ouachita Parish High School in the Class of 1945. He then attended LSU, graduating in 1949 with a degree in business. Don then moved to Dallas for two years to work for Blue Cross Insurance. With the encouragement of Bruce Brooks and Tige Mullins, Don returned home to start a four-decade career in purchasing at the Brown Paper Mill (now Graphic Packaging International), retiring in 1994. As purchasing manager, Don always delighted in his work and the close friendships with his associates. A man of few words, Don led by example. Honesty and integrity were important standards to Don; he thus carried on the legacy of his father and mother. Shortly after Don returned home to West Monroe, his sisters Gladys and Beverly conspired to introduce him to their new teacher, Jean Bower, at a sock hop at the recently opened West Monroe High School. The meeting evolved into a happy 61-year marriage in which Jean and Don were inseparable. Their love for each other was complete and will never end. Don was very proud of his two boys, Jim and Bob. Don taught Jim to fly, then was thrilled to follow his career as an Air Force pilot and NASA astronaut. Don encouraged Bob to enter medicine, and then watched him become an esteemed interventional radiologist with St. Francis Medical Center, Monroe, LA. Don love and joy multiplied tenfold when Bob married Dr. Anne Dopson of West Monroe, and they had sons David and Brian Halsell; and multiplied again when Jim married Kathy Spooner of Merritt Island, FL, and they had James and Kate Halsell.Don hobbies always developed into Great Family Adventures. A lifelong love of boating and water sports led to his earning a captain license and owning many vessels, three of which he built or rebuilt. Over the years, Don houseboats–Driftwood, Vagabond, Playhouse, and Tranquility Base–were a familiar sight cruising on the Ouachita River, always packed with treasured friends. A highlight of Don boating adventures was a great loop motor yacht cruise of the eastern United States waterways, with his brother-in-law Tommy Thompson at the helm and sister Gladys as first mate. Every spring Don savored canoeing in north Arkansas with the Buffalo River Sports, a group of close comrades led by Herschel Gentry. Don also became a pilot, and relished flying his family in his light plane to vacation spots such as Florida, the Bahamas, and Lake Powell, AZ. Don was an inveterate traveler, driving and camping with his young family at most of the national parks in the western United States, including favorites Yosemite and Grand Canyon. After retirement, Don and Jean traveled much of the world; however, his preferred vacation place was the small Gulf beach house he built at Indian Pass, FL. He was planning a return visit right up to the end of his life. As a teenager, Don joined Fair Park Baptist Church soon after its founding. Fair Park remained his church home for the rest of his life. As an adult, he served on several committees and chaired the construction of the Family Ministry Building, in which role he earned the honorary title, Bulldog Don. Don valued the friendships formed in the West Monroe Rotary Club, in which he served a term as president. As an associate member of the Republican Women Club, Don joined Jean in promoting conservative ideals and candidates. Don is preceded in death by his parents, brothers John Owen Halsell and Robert William Bobby Halsell, and sister Gladys May Thompson. Surviving immediate family members are wife Roberta Jean; sister Beverly Kay Halsell; son James Donald Halsell, Jr. and his wife Kathy Dawn Spooner Halsell; son Robert David Halsell and his wife Elizabeth Anne Dopson Halsell; and grandchildren David Allen, Robert Brian, James Charles, and Katherine Jean Halsell. The family is extremely grateful to the wide circle of family and friends who have been so supportive during Don long illness: neighbors, sister Beverly, sisters-in-law Ann Kapp and Alice Baggett, brother-in-law Paul Kapp, Fair Park and other church friends, family physician Dr. Charles Morgan, the medical staffs of St. Francis and other hospitals, hospice nurses and aids, and thoughtful acquaintances across the country. Pallbearers will be Don grandsons David, Brian, and James Halsell, and nephews John Kapp, Robert Kapp, and Chuck Thompson.Visitation will be held from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 4, 2015, at Kilpatrick Funeral Home of West Monroe.Memorials may be made to the Building Fund of Fair Park Baptist Church or to a favorite charity.