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Obituary for Douglas M Dellefield

DOUGLAS ''DOUG'' MADDEN DELLEFIELD CANFIELD - Funeral services will be 1:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 11, at the Lane Family Funeral Homes, Canfield Chapel, 65 N. Broad St., for Douglas “Doug” Madden Dellefield, 86, who died Sunday, Dec. 6, at his residence.
Doug was born June 28, 1929, in Elyria, a son of the late Harold John and Mabel Sophia Madden Dellefield. He graduated from Elyria High School and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology, minoring in Business Administration and Sociology, from Bowling Green University. He belonged to the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, ROTC, and the National Guard. Doug enlisted in the U.S. Air Force as an airman in 1953, “better to fly than walk,” and later went to officer’s training school for a 20-year career in hospital administration, having served at Wimpole Park AFB, England, Sioux City, Iowa, U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado, Hahn AFB, Germany, and Sheppard AFB, Texas. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1973. He moved to Canfield in 1973, working as an assistant director of the Youngstown Hospital Association.
He also worked for Austintown Schools as a substitute teacher and Canfield Schools as a bus driver for bus no. 12.
His hobbies included golf, bowling, Lunch Bunch at Inner Circle, and enjoying creative projects.

He was an avid reader and the dictionary was his favorite book, as was the atlas. He daily read about 12 magazines, which included Popular Mechanics and Smithsonian’s The Mind.

Besides his parents, Doug was preceded in death by his wife, the former Janice Helen Schreiber, whom he married Dec. 21, 1952, and who died March 1, 1997; and their son, Randall John Dellefield and his wife, Cynthia Cline. He is survived by his daughters, Linda Anne (Kent) Whitton from Warsaw, Ind. and Leslie Sue (Jim) Moore of Canfield. He was a loving and generous grandfather to 11 grandchildren, Matthew Whitton, Ashley Laws, Jessica Holloway, and John Whitton, Kyle Dellefield, and Sean, Alyse, Britta, Todd, Randall and Samuel Moore; plus 16 great-grandchildren. He has one sister, Sandra K. Carstensen, living in Sacramento, Calif.
Friends may call on Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Lane Funeral Homes, Canfield Chapel, and from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m., Friday, prior to the service.
His favorite poem to share with his family, “The Guppy” by Ogden Nash. “Whales have calves, Cats have kittens, Bears have cubs, Bats have bittens, Swans have cygnets, Seals have puppies, But guppies just have little guppies.”