Edinburgh (1990s)
9 Dec 1930 – 10 Jun 2024
Donald Trumpler was born in Vancouver, Canada, to Swiss and German immigrant parents. He grew up as a musically and mathematically gifted child. After studies at the University of British Columbia and a doctorate at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he embarked on a three-month trip to Europe, during which he met his future wife, Elisabeth, the youngest daughter of a school friend of his mother. They were married in Vancouver in December 1958, and had two children, Eric and Mark.
In his early career, Donald taught mathematics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, Rutgers University, Smith College, and the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Later on he was employed by Combustion Engineering and its successors, now part of the engineering consortium under technology company ABB. He became a troubleshooting and installation expert on training simulators for nuclear reactor operators, including extended assignments in remote locations.
During his eight years employment at Smith, Donald was introduced to change ringing by his colleague Alice Dickenson. Together with the student Joan Hutchinson, they taught themselves the basics of change ringing on handbells. When the construction of a new performing arts centre came into planning, they were able to convince the authorities of the College to include a ring of English bells in a tower that was part of the plan for the complex. A 9cwt ring of Whitechapel bells was installed there in 1968.
Don and Elisabeth were regular ringers at Smith, at Brewster, NY, and in Philadelphia later in life. They were founder members of the North American Guild of Change Ringers, for which Donald served on the executive committee as Peal Secretary for many years. He became one of the leading North American peal ringers, totalling 729 peals in his lifetime. His records include many firsts for the North American Guild, and he always encouraged ringing talents, conducting first peals for many of them. He regularly travelled to the UK for peal tours, some with visiting North American bands, and often rang with a band including Barry Fry, Roy LeMarechal, John Dodd, and John Colliss of the Winchester and Portsmouth Diocesan Guild. In the 1990s he was sent on an assignment to Scotland by his employer, where he was able to ring regularly in Edinburgh. Donald was elected member of the Society of Royal Cumberland Youths in 1990, and twice joined the Society on peal tours to Australia.
Unfortunately, due to the onset of Parkinson’s disease, he was not able to ring for the last ten years of his life but continued pursuing his interest in classical music and opera, visiting concerts for as long as his mobility permitted. He is survived by his wife Elisabeth, his two sons Eric and Mark, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Eric Trumpler
From The Ringing World, 5908, p.674, with permission