Donald Dayle Lacy

Donald Dayle Lacy, age 89, passed from this earthly life into eternity on May 1, 2024. After a valiant fight with a harsh case of shingles, Don’s strength was taken from him. He was born on April 9, 1935, in Trinway, Ohio, to the late Donald William and Agnes Runkel Lacy. He was raised with his two younger sisters, Janet (Donald) Duncan and Margo (Donald) Thomas and his brother, Marc (BeLinda) Lacy in the Trinway/Conesville area. Don graduated from Conesville High School where he was a star basketball player. After graduation in 1953, he married Joanne Starner, his first wife, and together they raised three children, Darren Dayle, Brian William, and Cynthia Joanne.

Following graduation, he worked for three years at Essex Wire in Zanesville, Ohio.

One weekend, Don and Janet Duncan invited Don and Joanne to the OSU campus where Don Duncan was studying agriculture. After a weekend of touring the campus with Don Duncan, Donald Dayle realized he also wanted to go to college and study engineering. The wheels were set in motion, and in March of 1962, Donald Dayle graduated from The Ohio State University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. He received assistance with college expenses from the ROTC program at OSU and in turn, recruiters from the NASA Research Center in Cleveland captured his drive for excellence in his field of electrical engineering. Don joined NASA on several space projects for three years, then moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he worked at General Electric as an engineer. Later, Don followed a fellow engineer, George Futas to Logicon in San Diego, California.

Don’s father suffered a massive heart attack and died in 1965. In 1969 Don moved his family back to Ohio, and he started his own business, Applied Computer Systems, Inc. in 1971. Don enjoyed creating new products even though the main thrust of his original business was hardware and software sales and service to anyone needing computer specific software.

In the early 1980s Don collaborated with Gary Rusk, a high school teacher at Worthington City Schools in Worthington, Ohio, to design a product that would send a computer signal around a classroom from the teacher’s computer to communicate one-on-one with specific computers of students needing assistance. Gary was a math teacher and tired of going from student to student replicating the same problem solving scenario, so he worked with Don and the LINK System was born! It became his greatest accomplishment with Don receiving a US Patent. This achievement was very rewarding to this humble man. Don retired from ACS in 2015 after handing the reins over to the capable hands of Todd and Monica Broceus.

Don also loved to build and created fine woodworking projects for many family members, including all of the grandchildren, nieces and nephews, employee’s children and random others thankful to receive gifts from his capable hands. Don loved the log cabin he lived in as a child (ages 5-10). His sister, Margo, was born in that special house. Don decided he would like to have that structure and bargained with his brother, who owned the home farm, to allow him to tear down and move the wooden structure to Utica, Oh. Don had purchased land encompassing the first hills you see as you drive east out of Columbus. Together, Don, Marc, Margo and their families with help from others enabled this project to be accomplished. Make no mistake, Don was the driving force behind this massive undertaking. Hours and hours of thoughts, drawings, and designs about how to preserve the logs when reconstructing it on the Utica property are precisely detailed in a notebook illustrating his brilliant mind and abilities.

Don married his second wife, Hilda Porteus, on October 26, 1980, and they bravely moved into their unfinished log cabin home. With the chilly winds of November upon them and just two fireplaces for heat, they “pioneered” on to January when Don developed a bad case of pneumonia. But his man of many talents and great strength recovered and soldiered on to spring when things took a fever pitch and room by room, cherry, walnut, buckeye and other wood was planed, sanded, varnished, and lovingly placed into all the rooms. No drywall or paint was used, just so much natural wood was utilized that the cabin is as beautiful today as when it was built. This talented man and his new wife worked into the night after working all day at ACS to bring his dream into a reality. Don and Hilda lived in this lovely cabin for nineteen years. Then, needing a project of necessity, Don realized both his mother and mother-in-law were ill and would need hospital or nursing home facilities. So, once again, Don was the “engine” that made this new two-year project of a large six bedroom/seven bathroom house a reality; a house that could accommodate both mothers and nine grandchildren as they were born. Countless precious memories have been made and will continue on in this gorgeous, beyond imagination, creation of Don’s brilliant mind. This home will continue to be enjoyed by his family for years to come.

Amidst all these personal projects and the business, Don and Hilda were active members at First Presbyterian Church in Newark under the very godly leadership of the Rev. Dr. John Minihan. Pastor John saw Don’s hunger for the Word of God and guided him by purchasing a study Bible for Don and holding classes so Don could begin to see the correlation between God’s handiwork and His Word. Skillfully, Pastor John helped Don master portions of the Scriptures, and when he realized his business leadership skills would work in the church as well, made sure Don qualified for the elder and deacon boards. Don also taught the science portions of vacation Bible school classes each year and traveled with Pastor John and other church members to Honduras on a mission trip where they worked to build a school for the children of a poor village there. After the mission trip, realizing his blessings, Don gave generously to the needy around him in the name of Jesus, his Savior.

Don was a devoted husband, father, and grandfather (Pop) who will be so dearly missed.

Don is survived by his wife, Hilda, sons Darren (Stella) Lacy of Florida, Brian (Nicole) Lacy of Galena, daughter Cindy (Tony) Daniels of Centerburg, grandchildren Olivia, Ava, Grant, Hunter, Morgan, Cooper, Johnathan, Nicholas, Chelsea and great grandchildren Hailey and Trevor. Don is also survived by his sister Janet Duncan of Warsaw, Margo Thomas of Westerville and his brother Marc Lacy of Conesville.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to the Gideons International for distribution of Bibles for those who long to know the Word of God or Utica EMS or Samaritan’s Purse.

Funeral services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, 65 North Third Street, Newark, OH 43055 on May 8, 2024, at 11:00 am. Calling hours will be held at the church on May 7th from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. A private burial service will be held at the Plainfield, Ohio Cemetery at 2:00 PM following the funeral.