VIRGINIA BEACH - Neither crippling multiple sclerosis nor cancer could convince Donald Mohr that life wasn't good.

Mohr, who spent more than half his 63 years battling illness, died Sunday. If he complained about his lot, no one can remember.

"He just never lost his optimism or sense of humor," Janice, his wife of 43 years, said.

An Ohio native, Mohr joined the Navy out of high school. He and Janice eloped shortly after. They kept the marriage a secret for six months before, as Janice puts it, "surprising my parents."

Mohr, who served 23 years, was initially a Navy photographer. Later, he was sent to the University of Southern California to study cinematography and become a filmmaker. One of his teachers was Jerry Lewis. "He wasn't the slapstick guy you saw in the movies," Janice Mohr said. "He was very demanding and serious. Don always said how much he learned from him."

Mohr, who earned the nickname "Doc" for making medical training films, loved regaling friends with the story of how he once filmed a hemorrhoid operation.

He had the opportunity to film more memorable moments, too, such as a space capsule splashdown and Queen Elizabeth's 25 -year jubilee. He was an award-winning photographer, and one of his pictures made it into Newsweek.

He began to experience symptoms of multiple sclerosis in 1970. As the disease worsened, Mohr tried to disguise it, refusing to go on disability. "He never wanted to leave. He loved the Navy too much," his wife said. Unable to walk without a cane, Mohr retired in 1985.

As a civilian, he spent eight years as photo lab supervisor at the Armed Forces Staff College. For his last 13 years, he got around in a wheelchair . He loved watching the History Channel and National Geographic programs.

Mohr was diagnosed with cancer in 2004, but even when extremely ill, he never lost his zest for living.

"One time we were on a cruise and the weather was horrible - the ship was going up and down," Janice said. "Don had the time of his life, yelling for joy as he let his chair careen down the hallways, bouncing up and down. Everyone else was throwing up."

He continued shooting pictures until he could no longer hold a camera.

He suffered from multiple sclerosis for 35 years, “but he was always more concerned with others,” caregiver Alice Wilkes said. During his Navy career, he received the Military Newsfilm Motion Picture Photographer of the Year award. He and Janice, his wife of 43 years, had two sons, Carl and Rick.