Donald "Don" Wayne Cottrill, 63, of Whitewood, SD started his next adventure on August 7th, 2022 after a battle with cancer.  He passed away at Rapid City hospital surrounded by family.  His final days may have been spent in the hospital, but he was surrounded by so much love and laughter, we are blessed to have been able to spend so much time with him.  Don had so many visitors when he was in the hospital, we caught him looking around the room several times and when we asked him what he was doing he simply said "Counting."  He always seemed surprised that he had so many people who loved him, but he was easy to love.

Don was born on November 24th, 1958 in Gordon, NE and was raised by his father, Leonard Cottrill.  He lived many places throughout his life, but Whitewood was always his home.  Don purchased his first home on Oak Street in Whitewood in his early twenties and that house would serve as his home for the remainder of his life.

Don held many jobs throughout his life, but no job was ever as important to him as his family.  Two of the proudest days of t his life were March 30th, 1979, the day his son John was born and August 24th 1982, the day his daughter Heather was born.  With his 2 children, he had 7 grandchildren, a great granddaughter and a second great granddaugher to be born in January of 2023.  His grandkids were his pride and joy and he loved being a grandpa.  He enjoyed spending as many holidays as he could with them.  All of the grandkids knew that grandpa would be over and that he would always be bringing pies and bags of candy to share with all of them.

Don was intelligent and was a very quick witted man.  Anyone who knew him knew that he would always have some kind of joke to tell.  His laughter and chuckle was so identifiable that you could pick it out in a crowd.   He usually would have a smile on his face when we was thinking of something smart to say, and we all knew he was up to no good whenever he had that smile on his face.  He never lost his sense of humor even leading up to his final days.  When he was faced with the reality that he would be leaving this world too soon, he smiled at the kids and said "I lived a good life, and I had a couple of OK kids."  Even in such a serious time, he still wanted to comfort everyone with his humor.  Along with always telling jokes, he loved any type of puzzle and trivia.  One of this favorite things to do after a long day would be to go home and watch Jeopardy.  Don had watched Jeopardy for as long as his kids could remember and continued to watch it his entire life.  He would always seem to know the answers to most of the questions and Heather and John were convinced that he would some day be a contestant on the actual show.  He also loved to solve Rubik's Cubes.  Although we never actually timed how fast he could do it, he was one of the fastest people we had ever seen solve a Rubik's Cube.  It was amazing!  The grandkids would try their hardest to stump him when it came to that Rubik's Cube, but he would always put it back together in less time than it took for them to mess it up.

Don is survived by his son John (Linda) Cottrill, Spearfish SD, his daughter Heather Cottrill, Sioux Falls, SD, his brothers Dick (Mary) Cottrill, Sturgis, SD, Lenny (Toni) Cottrill, Lead, SD and his sister Leeann (Shawn) Cottrill, Spearfish SD.  His beloved grandchildren MiKayla (Drew) Wetz, Cheyenne, WY, Catilin (Cody Kerr), Spearfish SD, Jaron Stuckey, Sioux Falls, SD, Caden Cottrill, Spearfish, SD, Taya Burrell, Sioux Falls, SD, Chloe Cottrill, Spearfish, SD, Shamar Burrell, Sioux Falls, SD, great granddaughter Rayme Wetz and he was expecting his second great granddaughter in January of 2023.  Don had some important relationships throughout his life and through those relationships he gained two bonus daughters Maggie Jelich, Antioch, CA and Blake Thoreson, Rapid City, SD.  He was very grateful for the bond he shared with both of them.

He was proceeded in death by his father, Leonard Cottrill, brother Rick Cottrill, Grandpa Clayton Cottrill, Grandma Esther Cottrill and his Aunt Rose Harbin.

Our family does not want to mourn the loss of Don, but instead we want to celebrate the time that we were able to have Don in our life.  We would love for everyone to attend and share any special memories they have of Don with his children and his grandchildren.  The Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday August 20th, 2022 at 2 pm at Studio 621 in Spearfish, SD.  (address 621 Main Street, Spearfish SD)