Donald Dean Malzahn

Donald Malzahn, Jr. gained his wings on October 2, 2021, he lived life to the fullest, never took life too seriously, and loved to make people laugh. God broke the mold after Don was born to the late Donald Malzahn, Sr. and Frances Lucille Conley Malzahn on November 26, 1959, in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.  He leaves behind his wife Tiffany, uncle/brother Mike Conley, numerous cousins and friends, and his beloved beagles, Baylor and Astro.

Don spent his formative years on the Conley family farm in Hugo, OK which shaped his love for his family, love for animals, and resulted in a lifetime of hoarding and cheap mischief, often at the expense of others. Being an only child, Don had numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and life-long friends that he considered brothers and sisters. While lots of people say that Don meant it, he genuinely loved and cared about people, and cared about his family staying together.  He never met a stranger and would often strike up conversations with random people that would last for hours, much to his schedule conscious wife’s consternation.

While he played many sports in school, he maintained life-long love affairs with baseball and rodeo.  After his competitive runs on the baseball diamond and in the rodeo arena, Don started his long and illustrious career first as an entrepreneur and then at Hitchcock Distributing as a purveyor of the sweet elixir named Coors.

Don met the love of his life, Tiffany, at the National Finals Rodeo. She was hoodwinked into thinking he was a charming individual with decorum.  She soon learned that first impressions aren’t always accurate, as Don loved to joke that he was “rude, crude and socially unacceptable.”  He was wrong about that but some of his jokes and antics certainly walked that fine line.  Nevertheless, he stole Tiffany’s heart, and they spent the entirety of their time together as best friends and deeply in love with each other.

While he was certainly a jokester, Don was genuine to a fault, charitable, a teddy-bear at heart, and a truly kind and thoughtful individual. He protected his family from danger, often without them ever knowing he had intervened. He provided shelter, sustenance, and if needed, financial assistance, to friends in need, even when it hurt him to do so. When his parents needed him in their golden years, he went to the ends of the earth to ensure they received the care and attention that they needed and spent countless hours by each’s bedside.  When is wife was injured in an epic accident, Don learned to blow-dry and style her hair, cut her meals into bite-sized portions, and did many other small things to make her recovery easier, without even being asked to do so.

Following his wishes, there will only be graveside services, but well-wishers are encouraged to write a note of farewell on a Coors beer can and drink it in his honor. Seriously, what would have made him the happiest is for you to go hug your family and hold them tight, spend time with friends, don’t get caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, and genuinely take care of one another.

Everybody has a Don story, and we'd love to hear them all. To share a memory of Don or send a condolence to his family please leave one here.  While flowers are certainly not necessary, if you feel compelled to do something, a donation to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital would make Don’s heart happy, it was a charity near and dear to his heart.