Biography
Year at ISU: 1935
Lieutenant Donald D. Patterson was born in Kelsey, Iowa, on April 23, 1913 to Elizabeth Fink. He he had three brothers and one sister. They grew up in Waterloo, Iowa.
Donald graduated from East Waterloo High School in 1931. He attended Iowa State College before entering the navy in July, 1933. He graduated from the naval academy at Annapolis in 1937.
He became an ensign in June, 1937; a lieutenant (j.g.) in July 1940; and a lieutenant in January 1941. He married Marjorie Lois McKane on October 24, 1941 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Donald died on submarine patrol duty over the Atlantic when his plane crashed on January 14, 1942. His father, Hugh Patterson, died of a heart ailment that February.