Donald C. "Don" Todd, 90, was called home to be with the Lord on Monday, January 15, 2018 in Sterling, Colorado. Viewing will be held from 3-6 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 18 at Chaney-Reager Funeral Home. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19 at Chaney-Reager Funeral Home with Pastor Justin Steimer officiating. Interment to follow at Riverside cemetery.

Born in Turney, Missouri on Sept. 17, 1927, Todd's parents recognized his musical skill early in his life. He and his brother played violin on the weekly radio program Kansas City Kiddies Revue. Todd was the youngest musician hired by the Kansas City Philharmonic Orchestra and later helped First Daughter Margaret Truman prepare for her singing debut.

He earned bachelors and masters degrees from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. He played in symphonies and orchestras in Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Amarillo, the Utah Symphony, Allen (Texas) and Richardson (Texas), serving as concertmaster in Allen and Amarillo. He taught at Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Dayton, Va.; Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, Ill.; West Texas State University in Canyon and spent 20 years teaching orchestra in the Dallas schools until his retirement in 2002. He also played first violin in the Dallas-based Metropolitan String Quartet.

He continued to record into his eighties. For the past 15 years, he played hymns at Barfield Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn. to the delight of the congregation. He was known for his political activism in Rutherford County, Tenn., where he scrutinized financial records and was a frequent speaker about government waste.

He was also fiercely competitive in backyard games of croquet and corn hole. He also enjoyed many seasons at the cabin he designed and built in Divide, Colorado and many hours hiking in the nearby woods. He instilled in his two daughters a love of Colorado and the outdoors and a spirit of adventure.

He is survived by wife of 42 years, Marilynn; daughters, Olivia (Jesse Courtney) and Nancy Todd; granddaughters, Emma, Anna and Ella Courtney and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by daughter, Augusta Elise Todd; parents, Marion and Mary Todd, and brother, Paul.

Memorial donations may be made in his name to the Greenhouse Ministries in Murfreesboro or the Salvation Army in care of Chaney-Reager Funeral Home, PO Box 1046, Sterling, CO 80751.