Donald Hinde, the former director of the University Union, died Oct. 11 at home. Hinde was 72.

Friends, family, former colleagues and current students were invited to a memorial service in Hinde Auditorium Saturday afternoon. The memorial service was emotional, yet positive ?” a celebration of Hinde’s life.

Noel Hinde, his wife, greeted people with a smile as they entered the service. The audience was treated to a slideshow of personal pictures before people spoke about Hinde.

“When Don died, there was no warning,” Noel Hinde said. The family did not want to say how Hinde died.

Addie Smith, a retired payroll employee who worked for the late Hinde, was in attendance.

“Don was a fine administrator and a good person,” Smith said

According to a family Web site, Hinde was born Jan. 4, 1933, in Sandusky, Ohio, to Thomas and Violet Hinde. He graduated from Huron High School in 1950 and graduated from Bowling Green State University in 1955.

Two days after he graduated from Bowling Green State, he married Noel Greenhill. Together, they had four children: Lee, Jay, Lynne and Laurie. Noel and Don had seven grandchildren.Between 1951 and 1972, Hinde worked at Bowling Green State. In 1958 he became Building Engineer.

He came to Sacramento State because “it was a great job opportunity for him,” said Leslie Davis, Hinde’s successor as director of the union.

“Don was the vision and driving force of the Union,” Davis said. “He was part of the creation of the Union in 1973. It was renovated three times while he was the director.”

Hinde was the director from 1975 to 1999. “He knew how to design university unions and how to make them function better,” said Don Tucker, the assistant director of operations at the union.

“He was very knowledgeable and he was concerned about the students,” Tucker said. He was grumpy on the outside and softhearted on the inside.”

During the construction of the union, Hinde was overlooking every detail of the modeling. He made sure that service elevators were a vital part of the building, including specifics about service elevators for janitorial purposes, Davis said.

With his past operations experience from Bowling Green State, he made sure vital aspects were included in the union, while creating a haven for the students.

He also used funding from the union to pay for the first cargo container to store the boats of the Aquatic Center when it first came to Lake Natoma in 1981. He established the Aquatic Center and remained an avid supporter, along with the other founders, Cary Goulard, professor with the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, Garth Tanner, former State Park superintendent, and Ray Clemons, former football coach.

Cindi Dulgar, the operations manager of the Aquatic Center, first met Hinde in 1983 as a student. She described him as a stern, black-and-white kind of man.

“But he was also extremely supportive and encouraging,” Dulgar said. “He was a mentor.”Hinde also took part with various campus committees. He was a member with the Association of College Unions, International.

Hinde retired from Sac State on Jan. 1, 2000, leaving after 26 years with the university. In recognition of all of the work that he had done with the union and for the university, the union named an auditorium after him.

During his retirement, Hinde and his wife enjoyed trips to Ireland, the Pacific Grove coastline and the small community of Carmel, Calif.

He was also an active member with the National Carousel Association.

Jamie Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]