Dr. Donald Krampetz

On Wednesday, June 1, 2022, Dr. Donald Lester Krampetz, loving husband and father of two daughters, passed away at the age of 74 at his home in Aransas Pass, TX.

Don was born in 1947 in Newark, NJ to Lester Krampetz and Helen Morsewich. He spent much of his childhood working in his parent’s hardware store where he developed a curiosity for the challenge of building and fixing things. At Lehigh University, when he wasn’t repairing his fraternity brother’s cars, he studied industrial engineering, graduating in 1969, and launching his professional career as an industrial engineer with Proctor and Gamble.

Ever the lifelong learner, Don left industrial engineering in 1976 to study at Texas Chiropractic College, graduating and becoming a Doctor of Chiropractic in 1980. Never straying far from his roots in the hardware store, he paid his way through chiropractic college working nights and weekends as a licensed electrician installing commercial electrical systems in the local Houston area with his good friend John Neuerburg.

Don met and married his soulmate, Rebecca Krampetz, while in chiropractic college. Prior to graduation, their first daughter Dana was born. Soon after graduation, Don and Rebecca moved to Neptune, NJ to start their chiropractic practice together, during which time their daughter Erin was born.

At the age of 40 Don was ready for his next career challenge, enrolling in medical school at UMDNJ in 1987. After graduating, top of his class, as a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine in 1991, Don and his family moved to Pleasanton, TX where he began his residency at nearby University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Don went on to serve as the Chief of the Medical Staff at the Jourdanton Hospital, retiring in 2014, but not before teaching himself how to write software code and building his own electronic health records system.

When Don wasn’t fixing people’s ailments or electrical systems, he could be found either at the sidelines of sports events where he was the unofficial team doctor for his daughter’s sports teams, on the waters of the Arroyo Colorado fishing, or ever the fitness enthusiast, running on his treadmill.

Don retired in 2014, but those that know him - know that he never really stopped. An avid fisherman, hunter, woodworker and lifelong tinkerer he was never far from a tool belt, a boat that needed some work, or a new project that had captured his imagination.

Don is survived by his spouse Rebecca (Dr. Becky) Krampetz, his daughters and son-in-laws, Dana and Gable Barber-Smith, Erin and James Boyd, his sisters Janice Woods and Lori Petty, and his brother-in-law Tom Petty.

Don will be missed greatly, but his memory will inspire all who knew him to pursue their curiosity, to never stop learning, and to share their talents with their friends, their community, and the world around them.