Newton – Devine, Donald Raymond of Newton, MA and formerly Stratham, NH and Ogunquit, ME passed away on February 24, 2023 after a courageous battle with dementia.
Don was born on December 29, 1941 in Cambridge to the late George and Ruth (McMenamin) Devine. He grew up in Belmont, attended the Belmont Hill School and Belmont High School, and received a B.S. in Business Administration from Boston University in 1964.
Throughout high school and college, Don worked at the Ben Franklin Store in Cushing Square in Belmont, where he met and fell in love with a young co-worker named Leslie Moores. Don and Leslie married in 1966 and settled in Albany, where Don began his career with the Bear Manning division of Norton Company, and where their daughters Jennifer and Wendy were born.
As Don climbed the corporate ladder at Norton, the family relocated to La Habra, CA, where their youngest daughter Stacy was born. From California, they moved to Hudson, OH and then on to Johannesburg, South Africa and Luxembourg before finally settling in Shrewsbury, MA. Don rose to the position of president of Norton Abrasives after its acquisition by Paris-based Saint-Gobain and retired from the company in 1993.
Don grew up spending summers on Moody Beach in Wells, ME and despite all of his travels around the globe, his heart remained in Maine. He and Leslie bought their beloved home in Ogunquit in 1989 and enjoyed 30 summers with their children, grandchildren, extended family and many friends.
Not long after he retired from Norton, Don bought controlling interest in Lighthouse Depot, a gift shop in Wells that specialized in lighthouse merchandise. Over the next 20 years, Don grew Lighthouse Depot into a successful catalog business and one of the largest retailers of lighthouse merchandise in the world.
During this time, he and Leslie split their time between Ogunquit and Stratham, NH and spent part of almost every winter in Cape Town, South Africa. They moved to Wellesley in 2017 to be closer to their daughters and their families.
Don is predeceased by Leslie, his cherished wife of nearly 56 years, his brother George, and his sister Nancy. He is survived by his daughters Jennifer (Justin) Maiona of Wellesley, Wendy (John) Schoenfeld of Wellesley, and Stacy (Tim) Kelly of Dedham, and the grandchildren who put the twinkle in his eye: Jason, Matthew and Katie Maiona, Will and Caroline Schoenfeld, and Sophia, Charlotte and Amelia Kelly. Don is also survived by his sister-in-law Harlene Devine, his brothers-in-law Gregory (Sara) Moores and Scott (Janet) Moores, and many nieces and nephews.
A visitation will be held at the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington St., (Rt.16) Wellesley on Thursday, March 2 from 5:00-6:30 p.m. A Funeral Mass will be held in St. Paul’s Church, 502 Washington St., Wellesley on Friday, March 3 at 10:00 a.m. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Interment in Woodlawn Cemetery, Wellesley.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Marginal Way Preservation Fund in Ogunquit: www.marginalwayfund.org.
