WLM WLM Summer 2015 | Page 13

WLM | home they’d know how to read but must have missed the third grade. It’s just people’s curiosity and self-satisfaction that overrides their common sense,” Deon says. Deon’s days for enjoying his castle almost came to an end when he nearly died in an avalanche, buried inside his truck. He was coming back from Jackson when the avalanche hit. His brother, who is also his business partner, was with him and dug a hole down to Deon’s mouth so he could get oxygen. They were upside down in the truck for 45 minutes. Oddly enough, he had three dreams shortly before the incident that he was going to die in an avalanche – and then it happened. But the nightmare didn’t end the same. “It was a horrifying experience! I shouldn’t have lived through it -- kinda weird that I did.” With that experience behind him, a beautiful family, successful career and incredible architectural accomplishment in front of him to reside in, I asked Deon if there was any philosophy that he lives his life by. He replied that he taught his children that they can do anything they believe in. “What you do is up to you.” If they follow their Dad’s example they will do well. W L M www.wyolifestyle.com 13