Donald Drueck Thayer was born to Margaret and Donald Thayer on Feb. 14, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois, where he spent his first 10 to 12 years growing up in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
When in junior high, his family moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Don was always an active and athletic kid and played a variety of sports, but it was while growing up in Albuquerque that Don’s father forcefully encouraged Don to participate in wrestling, thinking that he would have a real aptitude for it.
He was correct, and Don wrestled for Highland High School earning All-State honors throughout his high school career. Wrestling afforded Don scholarships to colleges, and he wrestled one year at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, then transferred to the University of Wyoming, where he wrestled for two years, earning WAC Conference Champion and Reserve WAC Conference Champion honors, as well as an invite to compete at Olympic Trials.
The world intervened, however, and Don was drafted for the Korean War at age 22. He was sent to Korea and stationed immediately to the observation post (OP) on the front lines. He and six other fellow soldiers manned the OP where they did intense observation of the front lines, day and night.
Since Don was small, athletic and agile, he was ordered to physically go to the front lines and surrounding terrain on reconnaissance missions at night. After serving on the OP, Don was assigned to Troop Information and Education, where he taught Army sergeants.
Once Don’s Army stint ended, he returned to finish college at the University of Wyoming. He met and married his first wife, Donna, that year, and graduated from the University of Wyoming with a Bachelor of Science degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1957.
From there he traveled to Penn State, Pennsylvania, in pursuit of a master’s degree in physics.
His first daughter, Donnette (Donni) Ruth Thayer, was born while there in 1958. Penn State wasn’t the place for Don, however; the west was calling. He returned and worked in various places throughout the west for a few years including Rock Springs, where he had his second daughter, Dawn Margaret (Meg) Thayer, in 1959.
In 1962-1963, Don and his first wife divorced, and Don continued his pursuit and completion of his master’s degree at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro, New Mexico. This achievement opened new and exciting doors for Don, and he was employed in the aerospace industry in California. His first job was with Marquart but, soon after, he got a job with Rocketdyne Technologies/Technology in which he was one of the engineers assigned to build and formulate the J2 rocket boosters used for the Apollo missions in the space race of the 1960s.
He stayed in aerospace until 1965 and, during this time, he met the love of his life, a beautiful Dutch girl named Marika ter Harmsel.
Both Don and Marika were ready to leave California to explore new places. They married in 1966, and traveled all around the west for three to four months exploring National Parks and open spaces.
Don always felt a deep pull back to Wyoming, hoping to re-settle there and, while traveling through the state looking for potential places to build a hair-schemed idea for a refinery and inquiring about teaching jobs for Marika, the fates intervened and Marika was offered a job teaching second grade in LaBarge. They took it!
While Marika taught, Don made the ideas in his head come to fruition and built his refinery, Mountaineer Refining Company, which took used oil and refined/recycled it back into useable gasoline and diesel for vehicle consumption.
While the refinery grew and prospered, Don built five more businesses in conjunction that included a trucking business, hot oil trucks, owning and operating oil and gas wells, and starting a glycol plant. In the years that followed, Don downsized out of necessity, requirements, and advancing age.
In the wonderful chaos of building a life and business, Don and Marika also built and expanded their family with four children: son, Thorfinn Warren Thayer (b. 1969); twins, Gudrid Helen Thayer and Nicholas Dirk Thayer (b. 1974); and son, Maurits Richard Thayer (b. 1978).
Don and Marika Thayer created a good life and a strong family filled with happiness, laughter and adventure. They were married for 59 years until Donald Drueck Thayer’s death on Feb. 15, 2025 — one day after celebrating his 92nd birthday. Don’s greatest joys were his wife, kids, grandkids and immersing himself fully and completely in Wyoming’s wild spaces, and pioneering spirit.
He is survived by his wife, Marika Thayer; his six children; 11 grandchildren; daughter, Donni Thayer and granddaughter, Hazel Thayer; daughter, Meg Thayer-Gladstone, (Leon) and grandson, Holden Thayer Gladstone of Los Angeles; son, Thorfinn Thayer, and granddaughter, Karianna Thayer; grandsons, Kaden Thayer and Talon Thayer of Austin, TX.; daughter, Gudrid Thayer-Espenscheid (Chad), and grandsons, Arye Espenscheid, Jade Espenscheid and Cael Espenscheid of Big Piney; son, Nicholas Thayer (Jennifer) and granddaughter, Annika Thayer; grandson, Dirk Thayer of Berthoud, Colorado.; and son, Maurits Thayer (Jordanka) and grandson, Mattias Thayer of Denver.
A celebration of life was held at the LaBarge Senior Center with Father Randy Benton officiating from the Pinedale Episcopal Church. Military honors were held by the LaBarge Legion Post 88 and the Big Piney Legion 78. The services were followed by a luncheon at the LaBarge Senior Center.
