Donald Vincent Daley was born in Cleveland, Ohio on February 14, 1933. He had three sisters Jane, Ann and Patricia and one older brother named Tom, who served at the “Battle of Bulge” in WWII. Don was born with a great sense of humor and was always known to tell a joke or two. He attended Holy Name High School in Cleveland and graduated in 1951 and then proudly joined the United Staes Army and served in the Korean War.
After coming home from the war, Don married a girl named Carol Ann McCafferty from St. Francis High School in Cleveland. In 1955 they were married and moved with Carol’s family to Hollywood, California. Dad joined the LA County Sheriff’s Department in 1957 and the family eventually settled in the Covina area. Don and Carol raised a family of eight (six girls and two boys).
Don was always involved in Sacred Heart Church in Covina with school and church functions. He was very religious and many times a priest would be at the house having a fun and a lively conversation over a couple cold cocktails and then blessing the family at the end of the night. He was always involved in his children’s lives and activities, especially his son Tom’s football games, wrestling bouts and track meets at Damien High School.
Don Daley was a very humble and spiritual man his entire life and when his wife Carol passed away in 2006 he was lost in this world. Then a small miracle happened, while at church, he saw a lovely red-headed lady praying devoutly in front of him. He waited until the end of Mass and then asked her if she would like to go out for a cup of coffee. That lady’s name was Joanne Smullen and she saved our father’s life.
Dad and Joanne were married in 2008 and he loved her so much and they prayed the Rosary and went to Mass every day together. He called her his “Angel that saved him.” Joanne was such a great person and her daughter Kathy and son-in-law Lance are a wonderful part of our family today.
Upon Joanne’s passing in 2022, dad was again alone and was always finding comfort with his deep faith in God and funny sense of humor. He always had one more joke to tell and even hours before his death, he was able to tell a couple more “zingers” to a close family friend, Terry McGee.
He is with God now and we all know with his 92 years of dedicated preparation he is finally at peace and enjoying telling some more jokes with a much larger audience in heaven.
We love you Dad!
Donald Vincent Daley is survived by his five daughters; Eileen, Maureen, Ann, Donna and Mary and two sons; Tom and Jim. His surviving 15 grandchildren include; Steven, Stephanie, Patrick, Chad, JJ, Kelene, Haylee, Katie, Andrew, Rachel, Luke, Jake, Dean, Shannon and Sean.
