Donald “Don” LeBlanc, December 20, 1955 – September 5, 2026
Donald “Don” LeBlanc of Jasper, Arkansas, passed away on September 5, 2026, surrounded by his family and in the arms of his loving wife, Lois Faye LeBlanc. In a bittersweet testament to the life they shared, Don passed away on the day he and Faye celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary.
Don was born December 20, 1955, in New York, New York, to Joseph and Eva Stark LeBlanc.
Throughout his life, Don was no stranger to hard work or adventure. He served his country in the United States Navy, worked for the railroad, and even spent a day as a firefighter; a short career that came with at least one memorable encounter involving a fire truck. He later became the owner of his own trucking company and spent many years on the road.
Later in life, Don found work that allowed him to serve people in a different way. He became a driver for Harvest Assembly Church, providing medical transportation to those who needed it. For Don, however, it was never simply about getting someone from one place to another. He cared about the people riding with him. During those miles together, Don would talk with his clients, listen to them, encourage them, and, when given the opportunity, share his faith and the Word of his Heavenly Father.
Don later became the dispatch coordinator for Harvest, helping schedule drivers and routes so that others could continue providing that same important service.
Don’s life was also a story of faith, redemption, and finding where he belonged. Like many of us, Don could be a little wild in his younger days. Later in life, after meeting Faye, he found his path to God and grew deeply in his faith. Faye became much more than his wife; she became his partner in the life, family, and faith they built together.
Family held a special place in Don’s heart. He loved his children, Danielle and Justin, and carried that love with him wherever he went. Danielle held a particularly tender place in her father’s heart. Don always carried a photograph of her in his wallet, and a picture of Justin and Danielle together remained on his desk at work. They were simple things, but they spoke quietly of a father’s love for his children, the place they would always hold in his heart.
When Don married Faye, he didn’t simply marry the woman he loved, he embraced her family as his own. Don quickly became a father figure to Aaron Trey Boehmke, Nicole Boehmke-Blevins, and Candace Boehmke-Morgan.
There was no distinction in Don’s heart between the children he was born to and the children he chose to love. They were his family.
And then came perhaps one of Don’s favorite titles of all: Papa.
Don was Papa to four grandsons: Weston Don, Aaron James, Nash, and Wells Brewer. Each held his own place in Don’s heart. Weston Don proudly carries his Papa’s name, and Don treasured the opportunities he had to take Weston and Aaron on adventures, spend time outdoors with them, and take them fishing. Those weren’t simply fishing trips or days away from home. They became memories that will be carried out for a lifetime.
Anyone who knew Don knew that he could be stubborn. But Don’s stubbornness was often simply determination in disguise.
When serious medical problems began limiting what his body could do, Don refused to allow them to define what he believed he could do. If a doctor or therapist asked Don to walk five feet, he would walk twenty just to prove that he could.
Even while suffering from severe COPD, Don wasn’t content to sit back and let someone else do something he believed was his responsibility. If the yard needed mowing, Don would strap his oxygen tank to the back of the lawn mower and mow it. If the swimming pool needed cleaning, the oxygen tank went along with him there, too.
That was Don.
He didn’t want someone else to do a job that he believed he could still do himself. His body may have told him to slow down, but his determination rarely listened. Again and again, Don accomplished more than doctors expected of him because doing only what was expected simply wasn’t his way.
Don was a hardworking, determined, and generous man. He was the kind of person who would literally give someone the shirt off his back or his last dollar if he believed they needed it more than he did. He loved his family fiercely, worked hard throughout his life, and never stopped fighting to do just a little more than anyone thought he could.
Don is survived by his beloved wife of 17 years, Lois Faye LeBlanc; his sister, Claire Thompson; his children, Danielle Brewer and Justin LeBlanc; and the children he welcomed into his heart and loved as his own, Aaron Trey Boehmke, Nicole Boehmke-Blevins, and Candace Boehmke-Morgan. He is also survived by his grandsons, Weston Don, Aaron James, Nash and Wells Brewer.
Don was preceded in death by his parents, Joseph LeBlanc and Eva Stark LeBlanc.
Don LeBlanc lived a life that wasn’t always easy, wasn’t always quiet, and certainly wasn’t lived sitting still. His was a life of hard work, second chances, determination, faith, family, and love.
During the final week of Don’s life, his body could no longer do many of the things his determined spirit had always pushed it to do. Before he lost the ability to speak, Don’s final spoken words were to his wife, Faye: “I love you.”
In the days that followed, Don was unable to speak, but there was one moment Faye will forever carry in her heart. As she sat beside him and told him that she loved him, Don opened his blue eyes. Though he could not answer her with words, tears began to fall from his eyes. He heard her.
On September 5, 2026, the day Don and Faye celebrated their 17th wedding anniversary, Don was surrounded by his family and held in the arms of his wife as his earthly journey came to an end. His last spoken words had been “I love you,” and in one of his final moments of awareness, love was what reached him again.
Don will be deeply missed as a husband, father, brother, Papa, and friend.
There will forever be an empty place where Don once stood, but there will also be countless stories, lessons, laughter, fishing trips, and memories left behind.
Don took a piece of everyone’s heart with him when he left this world. But he left pieces of his own behind in every life he touched.
And for a man who always insisted on doing more than anyone expected of him, that may be one of the greatest things he ever accomplished.
