OCEAN RIDGE — Donald Vigeant spent his final years doing the things that defined his life — gardening, walking the beach, playing golf and listening to music.
“He couldn’t sit still,” said his wife, Lynne Vigeant. “He was not a couch potato.”
Mr. Vigeant died Jan. 18, at the age of 75.
Up until the end, he actively pursued his interest in being outdoors. He walked miles along the beach located just five minutes from the couple’s winter home at Crown Colony Club in Ocean Ridge. Mr. Vigeant tended the flower gardens there, as well as at the couple’s summer home in Colonie, N.Y.
“He did it because he loved it,” said Mrs. Vigeant, adding that he was also competitive on the golf course. “He had a two handicap.”
His daughter, Cheline Boston of Houston, said he was always the life of the party.
“He always wanted to include everyone and be sure everyone was having fun,” she said. “He loved music and was very eclectic in what he listened to … everything except country or rap. He would order off the Internet because the stuff he liked usually could not be found in the music store.”
A native of Housatonic, Mass., Mr. Vigeant was honorably discharged from the U.S. Air Force in 1961. He earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and worked for 35 years at the New York State Department of Civil Services.
He and his wife fell in love with Ocean Ridge during the years they spent winters here. They purchased a condo in Crown Colony Club following retirement.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Vigeant is survived by a son-in-law, Kevin Boston, two granddaughters, Brielle and Braedyn Boston, and his former wife, Nancy Jenke, all of Houston; as well as a brother, Gerald Vigeant of Ballston Spa, N.Y.
His ashes will be buried this summer at Gerald B. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville, N.Y.
“It’s beautiful with green rolling hills,” said Mrs. Vigeant. “It’s what he wanted.”
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