Donald Basinger

Donald A. Basinger

1934-2020

Donald Arthur Basinger, a gifted musician and beloved dad, husband, and grandfather, passed away November 13, 2020, in Bountiful, Utah, surrounded by family. He was born June 4, 1934, in Meade, Kansas, to Oliver and Leo Belle Basinger. He had one younger sister, Norma Jean. The family lived in Kansas and Texas and moved to Utah in 1943. He graduated a year early from Davis High School and at age 17 joined the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

That same year, he attended the University of Utah as a Ford Scholar and went on to earn bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music. He loved great classical music, old and new airplanes, mountain trails, target shooting, amateur radios, family histories, good ice cream, dark chocolate, and fresh peaches. He built his professional life around two of those loves: music and airplanes.

During college, he participated in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, and he served three years as an active duty U.S. Air Force officer after graduation. He married Jane Brooks Neal in San Antonio, Texas, in 1963, and he raised her two sons, Chuck and Steve Neal, as his own. He and Jane had three children together: Julianne, David, and Nathan Basinger.

He played 24 seasons as the assistant principal bassist with the Utah Symphony. Under conductor Maurice Abravanel, the orchestra made numerous recordings and performed across 16 countries in Europe and Central and South America, including appearances at the Athens Festival and Berlin Festival. They made Carnegie Hall appearances in 1966, 1971, and 1975, and had their Kennedy Center debut in 1975. He also taught music in Davis County schools during his years with the Utah Symphony.

In 1975, he left the orchestra and became a full-time officer with the Utah Air National Guard. He trained navigators, coordinated training missions for NATO, and traveled the world. He flew cargo and refueling missions in the Gulf War and, earlier, the Vietnam War.

But he remained involved in music, and in 1978, he founded the Utah Chamber Orchestra and served as its conductor. After retiring from the National Guard, he also returned to teaching music in Davis County schools. In 1990, the Utah Chamber Orchestra began accompanying Ballet West in numerous productions, and he continued as the orchestra’s manager. In 2014, the orchestra’s name was changed to the Ballet West Orchestra. He continued managing the orchestra until 2015, when Parkinson’s disease left him unable to continue.

He was preceded in death by his parents and sister. He is survived by his wife, Jane Basinger, of Bountiful, Utah; five children; seven grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 21, 2020, at 11 a.m. at Lindquist’s Bountiful Mortuary, 727 N. 400 East, in Bountiful, Utah.  Due to the pandemic, services will be live-streamed and can be viewed by going to www.lindquistmortuary.com and scrolling to the bottom of his obituary page. Interment will be at the Bountiful City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations in his name to the Utah Symphony at  https:/my.usuo.org/donate/i/support.