Donald Riley Croley, Jr.
December 2, 1935-April 26, 2025
Long-time SPS member, Don Croley, died in April. Born in Denver, Colorado, Don spent portions of his childhood and youth in Denver, Indiana, and Pennsylvania (his father was from Nebraska and his mother from Denver). After undergraduate studies, he joined the U.S. Navy and later served in the reserves but did not serve in combat. While earning his doctorate in physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, he obtained his pilot’s license. He loved flying and proudly told stories about performing aerobatic maneuvers in small aircraft, including full loop maneuvers and stall recovery. After graduate school, he returned to Indiana for work but became unhappy and restless there.
During this period, he became involved in parachuting and earned his parachuting certification. He later took an approximately six months driving trip through, which became one of the great adventures of his life. He rented a car and drove around solo. During that trip, especially while traveling through the Alps, he developed a deep love of mountain hiking and the outdoors.
A friend encouraged Don to move west, believing he would be happier there, and sometime around the late 1960s (approximately 1968–1969), Don relocated to Santa Monica, later moving to Manhattan Beach and then Hermosa Beach. He primarily worked in aerospace, ending with JPL.
Don was active in the Southern California Chamber Music Society and loved the opera and classical orchestra music. He often went to Santa Fe for the opera season there.
Flying, parachuting, hiking, and adventure remained important parts of his identity throughout his life. He briefly continued parachuting in the Long Beach area before eventually retiring from the sport. Don became SPS emblem holder #352 on June 25, 1977. He was an M-rated leader and BMTC/WTC assistant leader, as well as HPS list finisher #286 (November 10, 2010, on Frazier Mountain). Often joining the Tuesday hikes sponsored by the Santa Monica Mountains Task Force, Don was also a member of the Colorado Mountain Club, climbing with them for many years. Don hiked in Peru, after moving to So Cal. He also ran multiple marathons and one triathlon in his life––he ran the Boulder Boulder 10K well into his seventies and then, when he could no longer run, walked as fast as he could. He was very active well into his seventies. After Don stopped hiking with HPS, he began hiking Westridge in the Santya Monica Mountains with Mikki Siegel. They had a standing date every Saturday morning before sunrise for quite a few years. With a painful back and knees, Don always showed up, no matter what, and he was already well into his 80s. He was truly an inspiration, and his motto was "you gotta keep moving."
Thanks to Amanda Newaira, whose father was a good friend of Don’s (he suggested that Don move to Southern California). She provided most of the notes for this obituary, which have been slightly modified for our readers. Additional information was supplied by Jane Simpson and Mikki Siegel.