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 Donald B. Trauger died peacefully in his sleep at his Oak Ridge home on Wednesday, December 3, 2008. He was 88. Elaine, his beloved wife of 63 years, was with him.
Born into a pioneering family near Exeter, Nebraska on June 29, 1920, Don was the son of Charles and Ethel Trauger. He and his younger brother Robert grew up on the family farm that Bob still operates. His early years were shaped by the Great Depression, the dust storms of the 1930s, and family life on the farm. A family trip to the Chicago World’s Fair in 1934 fueled a life-long fascination with science.
Don attended a one-room school without electricity or plumbing until he entered high school at age 12. After graduation, he did field work and serviced farm windmills for two years in order to earn the modest first year’s tuition at Nebraska Wesleyan University, where he studied physics and became intrigued by the new science of nuclear energy.
Upon graduation from college in 1942, Don was recruited to Columbia University to work on the Manhattan Project for the development of the atomic bomb and to pursue graduate studies. In New York City, he met Elaine Causey, a farm girl from Guilford County, North Carolina, who was completing a graduate degree in foods and nutrition at Columbia University. They were married ten months later on V-J Day, September 2, 1945.
Don and Elaine moved to the 4-year-old city of Oak Ridge in 1946 expecting to remain for six months. Don worked at the K-25 gaseous diffusion plant for eight years and then joined the staff of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where he worked until retirement in 1993.
Don’s 50-year career included work in irradiation test engineering, development of gas-cooled reactor technology, and the Nuclear Power Options Viability Study to project the prospects for nuclear power in the early twenty-first century. He was Associate Director for Nuclear and Engineering Technologies at ORNL from 1970-1984 and retired as Senior Staff Assistant to the Director of ORNL.
Don was an effective advocate of public education. He was president of the Oak Ridge PTA Council and other school-related organizations. He was elected vice-chair of the Oak Ridge Board of Education during a period of growth and turmoil and helped guide the expansion of Oak Ridge High School during the 1960s. He served for many years as the chairman of the board of Tennessee Wesleyan College in Athens, Tennessee.
Don was devoted to the United Methodist Church, serving his local congregation in a variety of roles, including chairman of the administrative board and co-chair of a series of convocations on the relationship between science and religion.
He authored “Horse Power to Nuclear Power: Memoir of an Energy Pioneer,” published in 2002, in addition to numerous technical papers and articles.
He was a fellow of the American Nuclear Society and received honorary doctor of science degrees from Nebraska Wesleyan University and Tennessee Wesleyan College. His professional associations included the American Nuclear Society, the American Association for Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, the Research Society of America, Sigma Pi Sigma, Tau Beta Pi, and the Tennessee Academy of Science.
His civic involvement included service on the boards of the Oak Ridge Methodist Hospital and the Oak Ridge chapter of the American Red Cross. He was a member of the Rotary Club of Oak Ridge and an early supporter of the Friends of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
He enjoyed photography, travel, and farm and timber management.
He is survived by his wife Elaine, sons Byron Roscoe Trauger and wife Aleta of Nashville, and Thomas Charles Trauger and wife Jana Belsky of Washington, D.C., granddaughters Hallie Causey Trauger and Katherine Aleta Trauger, brother Robert Edmund Trauger and sister-in-law Shirley Gillan Trauger, of Exeter, Nebraska, nephew Charles Earl Trauger of Omaha, Nebraska, nieces Lynnelle Elaine Trauger of Exeter, Nebraska, and Melissa Trauger Dufort of Shawnee, Kanasas, and great-nephews and great-nieces. He was preceded in death by his parents and by two infant children, Harold Joseph Trauger and Caroline Sue Trauger.
A memorial service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, December 7, at First United Methodist Church, Oak Ridge. Interment of the ashes will follow at the church. The family will receive visitors at First United Methodist Church both on Saturday, December 6, from 2-4 and on Sunday, following the memorial service.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to First United Methodist Church of Oak Ridge, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Tennessee Wesleyan College, or the charity of one’s choice.