Douglas Dale MacDonald was born on November 10, 1943, the second son and fifth child of Russell and Katherine (Gordon) MacDonald. Two more sons would follow: Warren Scott and Cameron Joseph. His older siblings, sadly, have previously died. They were Bonnie Rae, Kay Adair, Suzanne Lee, and Robert Gordon. Now, try to picture tiny, five-feet-tall Katherine making her way from 2218 Oakes Avenue in a snowstorm vicious enough to close down traffic over the 21st Street viaduct (Remember the clomp-clomp, clomp-clomp of that old bridge?), being supported by two well-meaning but tipsy “helpers.” They somehow traversed the viaduct, eventually trudging up the long, long stairway and through the doors of the old St. Joseph’s Hospital in Billings Park. Information is sketchy after that, but Katherine and Doug finally arrived back at 2218, where his Dad, his three sisters, and Robb welcomed their new baby brother.

Doug loved his family, and he loved life in general, finding joy through the good and not-so-good times. The house was filled with laughter and fun, but also difficulty. Doug and his older siblings spoke about times when he and Mother went foraging on wintry nights for old pieces of wood torn from decrepit porches that dangled off abandoned houses, hoping to gather enough boards to heat their cold house overnight. And they recalled waking up to snow and frost covering their beds.

Many years later, Mother, responding to a question about weatherproofing in that house, exclaimed, “You could throw

a cat through the cracks!” (Katherine was known to have a very clever sense of humor.) Back in those days, finding a dime packed into a snowbank would keep mashed potatoes on the table for a while. Doug claimed he was short as a result of a diet without ample protein. Even so, in his last years and months, he craved mashed potatoes, as well as the delicious pancakes served so often on the MacDonald table.

2218 Oakes was nearly batting distance from the massive Howe School. Some of Doug’s best memories featured those years - making life-long friends, admiring (most of!) his teachers, and spending countless hours on the baseball diamond with his pals. He became a legendary hitter (bats right and left, catches left), having proved that out by the smashed windows suffered at Howe and unlucky neighborhood homes. Do you remember the old Blues Stadium, a major league-sized field across town? Maybe you were among the kids, Doug included, proud to be members of the “Knot Hole Gang,” watching baseball greats through the wooden fences. That venue is long gone; but you’ll find a picture of it on display when you come to Doug’s memorial.

Doug graduated from Superior Central High School in 1961, having achieved a perfect attendance record for 12 years. He then attended UW-Superior for a year. In 1963, he and David Killoran joined the Army on the Buddy Plan. Doug excelled in that arena, drawing many friends into his vast circle. He entered the prestigious 101st Airborne Division (All the way!) and earned Jumpmaster status. During this time the Army notified the Evening Telegram that Doug was chosen as “Paratrooper of the Month.” A tragedy in the form of a traffic accident took Dave’s life, and Doug accompanied his Buddy’s body by train back to Superior and Dave’s grieving family. Doug never forgot this great loss.

Shortly after leaving Army life in 1966 and settling back into the family home, an ad in the Evening Telegram told about UPS hiring motivated workers. Doug headed straight to Duluth, where his 30+ year career as a delivery driver began. Great people skills, organizational abilities, and dedication to service made Doug the perfect fit for the job. And he loved it! He went out of his way to satisfy the needs of every customer, making dozens of friends in the process. He recounted many times when the ladies on his route would invite him in or send him home with baked goods. He was known to do special favors for shut-ins and those in need. After a storm flooded the road around one of the lakes on his route, Doug borrowed a canoe and paddled packages to the opposite shore. Some fishermen observed this and were in awe of his determination to deliver. Having developed relationships with so many, it was natural for them to reciprocate when Doug needed help. For instance, when his truck broke down on the route, a local tow truck driver spent hours pulling Doug’s loaded truck to each delivery destination.

Another time, he enlisted Mary’s help in driving the “DOUG” truck to his stalled vehicle, so he could transfer his load and finish deliveries that way. The public image of UPS was important to him. Doug’s uniform was always clean and pressed, shoes polished, and his truck freshly washed. After retiring, Doug dearly missed all the people he got to know through those many years.

Doug’s love for his immediate family spilled over in full measure to his nieces and nephews. He loved them all without reservation, and spent all the time he could with them, making fantastic memories. They still remember his way of making them giggle and laugh, telling scary stories, teaching them about the dreaded “Chops or Scrapes,” taking them on trips (to the diamond fields, bathing in icy mountain streams, and to Atlantic City - where their motel room was a horror in itself!). He so loved them that he took every opportunity to speak and brag about them.

He remembered every birthday, and sent them greetings by phone or text. While in Gordon, the kids had a ball, riding in the bed of the red-and-white “DOUG” truck to the dump or to Finstad Bridge for refreshing plunges, or metal detecting around town.

In those years, Doug earned his Private Pilot license and flew his own plane. He made trips to the British Isles, parachuted with the Israeli military, and jumped with a group in the 1983 movie Red Dawn. He developed some interesting collections, including clocks, rocks, records (an especially large number of Elvis vinyls and memorabilia), and even jukeboxes.

Gone were the days of his childhood, building carts to sail down the 21st street “proach,” and exploring the old locomotive graveyard just blocks away from home; relishing the thrill of hopping boxcars headed to South End, and doing the same back to the Superior yard, all with his boyhood-to-adult friends. Having sister Kay selling tickets at the Beacon Theater gave him and Robb special privileges, as she would whisper to the manager, “These are my brothers,” so they were able to spend many a Saturday watching and re-watching the newsreels, cartoons, and movies for free. Doug picked up many skills from his dad, his friends, and his own ingenuity, enabling him to fix just about anything from appliances to cars.

Those days of guys spending hours upon hours under the hood are probably as fondly remembered by many of you reading this as they were to Doug. With confidence gained through life experiences, Doug, in 1977, began his biggest undertaking by constructing a large, beautiful log home on the homesite of his grandparents, Joe and Sadie Gordon. This arduous work was accomplished with help from family and friends, and became the dream home he, years later, presented to Mary. In the same time frame, Doug bought the Bob and Olivia Lockman house next-door after Olivia died. He remodeled it for Katherine, and created for her the first really warm home she had ever lived in. He then moved Mother from 2218 back to her beloved Gordon, just yards from the new log home.

In 1978, when the Gordon-Wascott Historical Society was formed, Doug became its first President. He remained active in its operation for the next 47 years. During that time, he was responsible for acquiring the abandoned Soo Line train depot from the tracks next to the Platteter House and moving it to its present site at the crossroads of highway Y and Old 53 in Gordon. He also organized the moving and renovation of the old Whalen house on Antoine Circle to just across old 53 from the Depot.

In the late 1990’s GWHS acquired the property next to the post office for a future park. Amick Park is now becoming a reality thanks to Doug and a few others who are dedicated to bettering the Town of Gordon. The town saw many positive changes after Doug became Town Chairman. The first thing he did was to drive every foot of Gordon’s roads. He familiarized himself with every culvert, every pothole, beaver dam, and low shoulder. He believed the Town crew was grossly underpaid for their skills and work ethics, and made sure this matter was dealt with. Committing to memory the Wisconsin State Statutes, he used this knowledge to devise a plan which made funding available for the purchase of much needed road maintenance equipment, and facility improvements.

He bettered the aesthetics of Gordon’s cemetery, adding attractive fencing, as well as cleaning and reinforcing tumbled down tombstones. He located and marked several unmaintained Indian graves; this knowledge had been passed down through Uncle Ben Kreiner and Mother. He led the movement to create better usage of the Town office and conference room, and hired talent to remodel them and the stage. The beautiful stage curtain was then acquired at no cost from the former Minong School.

He also made it his mission to improve the ball field with new high lights, enabling night games.

When Roger Finstad spearheaded creation of Gordon Sanitary District #1, Doug shared his vision of preventing sewage runoff into the Eau Claire and St. Croix rivers. After Roger’s death, Doug took on the Commissioner position of the utility, (a volunteer job) making sure of its smooth and safe operation. This exceptional improvement has been serving Gordon for decades. Doug chose capable Gordon residents who are carrying on this important work. Doug left his position with the Town following a diagnosis of advanced cancer – another job he accepted no salary. But that didn’t stop him from doing all he could to be of service in so many ways. Just a few years ago, Gordon’s Post Office was threatened with imminent and permanent closure. Doug and a handful of dedicated citizens rose up with a loud voice and a solid plan, and with the help of Tom Tiffany, the Gordon Post Office was saved. In the position as Cemetery Committee Chairman, he initiated installation of the new and soon-to-be open columbarium.

Doug’s vast knowledge of Gordon history is well known. As a boy he sat at the knees of his Grandpa Joe Gordon, his Mother, and many others including his uncle Ben Kreiner, listening and learning everything he could about Gordon’s beginnings, the Indian village at its conception, Antoine and Sarah Gordon (who called the fledgling townsite Amick, after the massive beaver population during the fur trading years). Everything Doug heard, he filed away in his phenomenal memory.

In the few years before he died, Doug passed along as much knowledge as he could to the next generation of chroniclers in speeches, recordings, podcasts, and writings, so this storehouse of data would not be lost. We owe a debt of gratitude to these young, devoted historians who will keep these priceless memories alive. He joined other historians from various towns to discuss the old days of Gordon, Wascott, Danbury, Dairyland, Minong, and more in pursuit of a correct telling about these areas.

Doug and Mary’s first date took place at Fairlawn mansion, Bridgeman’s and Bob’s Chop Suey House on February 2, 1991. Six months later on August 2nd, Doug recreated that scenario and proposed via fortune cookie at Bob’s. She said yes! They were in a hurry to start their new life together: the wedding took place on Doug’s 48th birthday, November 10th, of that same year, at where else but Fairlawn (they skipped Bridgeman’s and Bob’s this time). Soon thereafter, the couple embarked on what they termed their “Labor of Love” and sometimes their “Love of Labor.”

Doug was not yet retired when they began buying, restoring, and remodeling properties in Superior, Gordon, and Solon Springs. This vocation consumed their spare time, vacation time, and just about all of their time after Doug retired from UPS. It was a joy for them to work side by side for over 25 years. Doing this work, he and Mary made many friends. They met the most interesting and genuine young people, who were hired, as helpers, with the sometimes-monumental restorations. Eager to work and learn, these exceptional teenagers took immediately to being mentored. They also became closest of friends to Doug and Mary – even extending to the kids’ parents and extended families. Now these special friends use the skills learned under Doug’s tutelage in their adult lives.

Doug and Mary were inseparable, having created many cherished memories, and melding Mary to Doug’s family and of Doug to hers was a blessing to both. They both developed a deep love for their new relatives! The love and trust of Mary’s new family sustains her through the heartbreaking loss of her beloved husband. Doug and Mary’s nephew brought a many-years’ long search to fruition when they located Mary’s son. This accomplishment added her son, his wife, and four special grandchildren into this wonderful, loving family. A giant void Mary had endured for nearly 50 years had now been filled.

Doug never stopped soaking up Gordon lore, and even bought back the original home of Antoine and Sarah Gordon. This property is a former trading post, general store, stagecoach stop, and home of the Gordon family, and is now listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. So many interesting stories attach to this dwelling – including the fact that Grandpa Joe Gordon was born right there in 1874. The upkeep and preservation of this edifice may be Doug’s most lasting legacy in Gordon.

Along the way, Doug learned a fair amount of the Chippewa language, entertained numerous relatives, friends, and total strangers with his knowledge and wit, played a killer game of Scrabble, displayed his expertise with the Yo-Yo, and loved us all to the depths of his heart. He lived through three types of cancer, several surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy for close to 30 years.

Although he was housebound for most of the last 4 years of his Earthly life, he still was saddened at the prospect of leaving all that he had here: family, friends, his home, and Mary. He knew he was going to finally meet Jesus face to face. The many miracles he experienced through HIM gave Doug more time and the comfort of having no fear of dying. He knew he would be moving into a beautiful mansion created for him by a KING.

Please join Mary along with Doug’s many, many, loved ones and friends at the Gordon Town Hall, 9709 County Road Y, Gordon, WI, on Saturday May 23rd, 2026, from 1:00pm-4:00pm for Doug’s Going Away (and last) Party.