MCDONALD, Dennis Wayne 1918 - 2010

MCDONALD, EDSON, SMITH, MINER, MATOUS

Posted By: Pat Ludeke (email)
Date: 1/27/2014 at 00:14:46

DENNIS WAYNE MCDONALD

Dennis W. McDonald of San Marcos, Calif. (formerly of Clear Lake) passed away on March 9, 2010 as a result of heart failure and prostate cancer. He was 91.

Dennis Wayne McDonald was born in Hartington, Neb. on May 5, 1918, the son of Charles R. McDonald and Amy R. Edson. He spent his childhood in Hartington and nearby Hawarden, Iowa, graduating from Hawarden High School. It was in the Hawarden area where Dennis met his lifetime sweetheart, Neva Shirley Smith, daughter of Ross Smith and Myrtle Miner of Hudson, S.D. Dennis and Neva were married in 1939 and they celebrated their 70th anniversary last year.

Dennis worked for the Williams Brothers (Great Lakes) Pipeline Company for nearly 40 years. Den and Neva moved to Clear Lake in 1950 where they lived as longtime residents until last year, when they relocated to California to be closer to family. Dennis was an electrical maintenance technician for the Pipeline. Being very knowledgeable in electronics, one of Dennis’s long-time hobbies and sidelines was repairing radios and TVs for friends around Clear Lake.

Dennis was a loving husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He was a generous and friendly man, had a good sense of humor, and would give anyone the shirt off his back. One of his later hobbies was collection and restoration of Edison cylinder record players. Dennis and Neva enjoyed traveling the country in their motor home after Dennis retired in 1983. Dennis especially enjoyed traveling to Colorado and California frequently to spend time with family. Dennis was a veteran of WW II, serving in the Navy in the South Pacific.

Dennis is survived by his wife, Neva; three children, Larry R. McDonald (Maria) of San Marcos, Gary W. McDonald (Georgia) of Santa Ana, Calif. and Connie McDonald (Steve Matous) of Boulder, Colo. He also leaves five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are pending with the Allen Brothers Funeral home, San Marcos, Calif. Dennis McDonald will be buried in an ancestral cemetery in Hudson, S.D. Memorials may be sent to the Hospice Foundation of America.