Donald Edwin Heiden was born on Thursday, August 18, 1927 as the first child of Edwin "Pete" and Lela (Viets) Heiden at their home on North Macomb Street in Monroe, Michigan.

Don attended the Boyd and Stone rural schools and then went on to graduate from Dundee High School in 1945.

He served his country in the U.S. Navy from June 21, 1945 to August 22, 1946 at the end of World War II. On January 3, 1951 he  re-enlisted in the U.S. Air Force  and served until his discharge December 10, 1954 during the Korean War.

Don worked as a Rural Mail Carrier for the U.S. Postal Service from 1955 to 1977.

He married Doris Elinor Petee on June 30, 1951 at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Deerfield, Michigan. The maid of honor was Don's sister, Deloris (Heiden) Fitzgerald and an usher was Don's cousin, Bob Heiden. Don was stationed at Oscoda Air Force Base (Oscoda, Michigan) at the time. They had four children. A son, Gregory Donald Heiden, died in 2021.

In 2011, Don and Doris celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary.

Don died at the Alice Lorraine Care Center in Monroe, Michigan on Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at the age of 93. Doris who was born July 4, 1929,  passed on October 27, 2017 at the same facility at the age of 88. She was a 1947 graduate of Summerfield High School.

At the time of his death, Don and Doris had 16 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren and 2 great, great grandchildren.

In a quirk of family relationships, technically, Don Heiden and Bob Heiden were both first cousins and first cousins once removed. Their fathers, Lester and Pete Heiden were first cousins while their mothers, Lila and Lela were sisters.