Donald Bell Metcalf

Donald Bell Metcalf passed away at age 87 on April 14, 2025 in the company of his family.

Don graduated from Knoxville High School, where he was a star tackle for the Panther football team. He was agile and quick, especially given his 6-foot 4-inch frame, and achieved first team All-State honors and national All-American status. Wanting to stay in Iowa, Don attended Iowa State on scholarship where he was a starting tackle for the Cyclone football team. He joined the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and earned his degree in teaching.

At Iowa State, he met and married Janet DePuydt, the love of his life. They were happily married for 67 years. He left us just 38 days after her passing.

Don managed Park Fair Shopping Center, Iowa’s first enclosed shopping mall, for 25 years. After the mall was sold in 1984, he took up farming. It was his calling, and he was able to actively farm well into his 80s. Well before it became fashionable, he was known as the “outdoor type.” Farming allowed him to pursue his passion of being in the out-of-doors, working with the land, and being his own boss. In the rare instances when he was not working, he loved to hunt and fish, cut and split firewood, and grow potatoes in his garden. He held an annual deer hunting party at the farm, where he was joined by his brother, nephews, great-nephews, and many good friends. He shared his love of the farm with his grandchildren by showing them how crops grow, how to count the kernels in an ear of corn to predict yields, and how crops are harvested. He always drove a four-wheel drive vehicle so he could travel off the beaten path.

Don was a man of many stories that came from a keen memory. Whether it was his hunting trips, working with his father-in-law Frank DePuydt, or passing on his family’s recollections of the early days of farming, he could tell a story with vivid details and interesting characters. Don knew the location of nearly every small town, river, and highway in Iowa, as well the quality of the surrounding farmland.

His many friends and family remember him as a guide, an exemplary role model, and provider for his family. In his later years, he enjoyed having coffee every morning with the boys at the Waukee elevator. As a manager of several large properties over the course of his long life, he was always concerned whether the gates were closed, doors locked, lights turned off, and tools put away. He imparted numerous pearls of wisdom, such as “the disposal is the plumber’s friend” and “being right does not heal broken bones.” He stayed on the straight and narrow.

He is survived by his brother, Phillip Metcalf; his children, D. Douglas Metcalf (Bobbie Schorr) and Carolyn Jackson (Bruce Jackson); four grandchildren, Benjamin and Jacob Metcalf, Judith and Margaret Jackson; and many nieces and nephews. In addition to his wife, Janet, he was preceded in death by his brother Fred Metcalf, and his parents Carl and Reva (Winsell) Metcalf.

Services will be held on Saturday, June 14, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. at Hamilton’s on Westown Parkway, 3601 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines, Iowa with a reception following from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.

Memorials may be directed to the Iowa 4-H Foundation in Ames and condolences expressed at www.HamiltonsFuneralHome.com.

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