By Chuck Sterling
Editor
To his friends, DeVan Hawkinson was big-hearted and well-liked despite troubles with mental illness and alcohol.
Some of the people who knew him best shared their recollections of the 63-year-old Vietnam veteran last week after he was found dead in his home on Honeysuckle Lane in the Eastview Mobile Home Park.
Police say he was the victim of a homicide.
An obituary appears on page 2B.
“He had a heart of gold,” said Pat Robasse, a neighbor and friend for many years.
“He always was good to me, and I’m going to miss him,” neighbor Reed Scheer added.
“He’s a very likeable guy,” Steve Mattila said, still speaking of his longtime friend in the present tense.
Robasse said he had known Hawkinson since the early 1970s.
He had lived on the next street over for the past 20 years. He called him “one of the best friends I ever had.”
He went to Hawkinson’s home two or three times a week for coffee, and it was such a visit Sunday afternoon, March 27, that led firefighters to discover the body in the charred house.
“People liked DeVan,” he said. “He was a smart-looking and smart man – a very intelligent man.”
Struggles
Hawkinson struggled with alcoholism and as a result he stayed home where his drinking wouldn’t get out of hand, according to Robasse.
He liked his friends to come over to his place, which was equipped like an entertainment center, and he loved to talk, play games and cards.
He often rode a bicycle around town rather than driving and planned his trips carefully so he wouldn’t have to make a second one. “He just bought a brand new bicycle last summer,” Robasse said.
Hawkinson won a full disability from the military about nine months ago as a result of “psychological problems” that Robasse believed stemmed from his Army service in Vietnam in the late 1960s.
“He was a truck driver over there and he saw some things that wouldn’t leave him alone.”
Scheer, who lives a few doors down the block from Hawkinson’s house, said he’s known him since moving into the neighborhood about five years ago.
He recalled how Hawkinson would ride by on his bike and wave to him.
“He was an awful good friend,” Scheer said. “He was a really good person … Never bothered anybody.”
Mattila said he and Hawkinson had been best friends for 47 years and they had written to each other when DeVan was in Vietnam.
“I loved that guy. He was a best friend of mine.”
Mattila described him as “very kind, generous” and a “very nice guy.”
He often went to Hawkinson’s home for coffee and they played pool, dice and cards. “We’d play horseshoes all day” alongside the house.
Hawkinson did odd jobs like mowing grass and trimming trees. He’d go down to Pleasant Lake and pull weeds for homeowners there.
Liked to help
“He helped everybody, and they helped him.”
Hawkinson told Mattila “he was one of the lucky ones” in Vietnam and “he could’ve got it many times.”
He lost friends there, Mattila said. Hawkinson told him, “Some made it back, some didn’t.”
Hawkinson’s family, including his sister and brother-in-law, Diana and Thad Ashwill of Annandale, made a request on police websites to be allowed to grieve in private and declined to be interviewed.
He graduated from Annandale High School in 1966 and shortly after that “developed a mental illness that he suffered from for years to come,” according to his obituary.
He was honorably discharged after serving in Vietnam.
“DeVan had a big heart, “ the family said in the obiturary, “always wanting to be with and help his friends.”
To his friends, DeVan Hawkinson was big-hearted and well-liked despite troubles with mental illness and alcohol.
Some of the people who knew him best shared their recollections of the 63-year-old Vietnam veteran last week after he was found dead in his home on Honeysuckle Lane in the Eastview Mobile Home Park.
Police say he was the victim of a homicide.
An obituary appears on page 2B.
“He had a heart of gold,” said Pat Robasse, a neighbor and friend for many years.
“He always was good to me, and I’m going to miss him,” neighbor Reed Scheer added.
“He’s a very likeable guy,” Steve Mattila said, still speaking of his longtime friend in the present tense.
Robasse said he had known Hawkinson since the early 1970s.
He had lived on the next street over for the past 20 years. He called him “one of the best friends I ever had.”
He went to Hawkinson’s home two or three times a week for coffee, and it was such a visit Sunday afternoon, March 27, that led firefighters to discover the body in the charred house.
“People liked DeVan,” he said. “He was a smart-looking and smart man – a very intelligent man.”
Struggles
Hawkinson struggled with alcoholism and as a result he stayed home where his drinking wouldn’t get out of hand, according to Robasse.
He liked his friends to come over to his place, which was equipped like an entertainment center, and he loved to talk, play games and cards.
He often rode a bicycle around town rather than driving and planned his trips carefully so he wouldn’t have to make a second one. “He just bought a brand new bicycle last summer,” Robasse said.
Hawkinson won a full disability from the military about nine months ago as a result of “psychological problems” that Robasse believed stemmed from his Army service in Vietnam in the late 1960s.
“He was a truck driver over there and he saw some things that wouldn’t leave him alone.”
Scheer, who lives a few doors down the block from Hawkinson’s house, said he’s known him since moving into the neighborhood about five years ago.
He recalled how Hawkinson would ride by on his bike and wave to him.
“He was an awful good friend,” Scheer said. “He was a really good person … Never bothered anybody.”
Mattila said he and Hawkinson had been best friends for 47 years and they had written to each other when DeVan was in Vietnam.
“I loved that guy. He was a best friend of mine.”
Mattila described him as “very kind, generous” and a “very nice guy.”
He often went to Hawkinson’s home for coffee and they played pool, dice and cards. “We’d play horseshoes all day” alongside the house.
Hawkinson did odd jobs like mowing grass and trimming trees. He’d go down to Pleasant Lake and pull weeds for homeowners there.
Liked to help
“He helped everybody, and they helped him.”
Hawkinson told Mattila “he was one of the lucky ones” in Vietnam and “he could’ve got it many times.”
He lost friends there, Mattila said. Hawkinson told him, “Some made it back, some didn’t.”
Hawkinson’s family, including his sister and brother-in-law, Diana and Thad Ashwill of Annandale, made a request on police websites to be allowed to grieve in private and declined to be interviewed.
He graduated from Annandale High School in 1966 and shortly after that “developed a mental illness that he suffered from for years to come,” according to his obituary.
He was honorably discharged after serving in Vietnam.
“DeVan had a big heart, “ the family said in the obiturary, “always wanting to be with and help his friends.”
Be the first to comment