Thursday, October 30, 1997
Noted local physician dies
By ROY A. JONES II / Abilene Reporter-News
Dr. Donald McDonald, who treated three generations of children
during a 61-year career as an Abilene pediatrician, died Wednesday
at his home after a lengthy illness. He was 86.
Burial will be at 10 a.m. Friday in Elmwood Memorial Park with
the Rev. Archie Echols and Chaplain Price Mathieson officiating.
A memorial service will follow at 11 a.m. at St. Paul United Methodist
Church, under direction of Elliott-Hamil Funeral Home, 542 Hickory.
The dean of local pediatricians retired from his private practice
in 1985 -- after 50 years of treating sick and injured children
and calming hysterical parents -- but he continued to work as
medical director of the West Texas Rehabilitation Center until
December 1995.
His love for children led him to help found the WTRC in 1953
and he was a charter member of the board of directors of the WTRC.
He continued to work with children there for more than 40 years
until his health failed. He said having a hand in its growth from
a one-room treatment center in the basement of Bonham Elementary
School to the largest rehab center in Texas was one of the greatest
joys of his medical practice.
Of his private practice, he recalled, "I took care of
some of them from the time they were born until they were grandmothers,
and I enjoyed every minute of it." He didn't discontinue
his private practice until he was 74.
He was born in Coleman on April 14, 1911, and grew up in a
dormitory at Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, where his
father, Dr. George Washington McDonald, was president from 1923
to 1947, and where his mother, Dr. Tonie Hemphill McDonald, taught
math.
By studying at the school's academy he was able to enter college
at age 14, and he was only 23 when he graduated from Baylor Medical
College in 1934.
He said an uncle, the late Dr. C.L. Prichard of Abilene, encouraged
his interest in medicine.
He married Corrine Emma Boyd in 1935 and they moved to Abilene
upon his completion of his residency at Maryland General Hospital
in Baltimore in 1936. He took a position with Dr. Erle D. Sellers
and set up his own private practice later that year.
During World War II he served in the Army Air Corps as a flight
surgeon and attained the rank of major. After the war he did graduate
work at Columbia University in New York and Washington University
Medical College in St. Louis.
e had been a member of the American Board of Pediatrics and
a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatricians for more than
50 years. He was also president of the Taylor-Jones County Medical
Society and the recipient of its coveted Gold-Headed Cane Award
in 1975.
In 1970 he was a delegate to the White House Conference on
Children and Youth. He had served as chief of pediatrics and chief
of staff at Hendrick Medical Center, as president of the Hendrick
Foundation board of directors and as a teacher in the Hendrick
School of Nursing.
He was a member of St. Paul United Methodist Church. In his
leisure time he was a world traveler and an avid golfer.
Dr. McDonald's wife died in 1976. He is survived by one son,
Donald H. McDonald Jr. of Abilene; one daughter, Mrs. W.G. (Emily)
Arnot III, also of Abilene; four grandchildren; and a cousin,
Dr. Lee Hemphill of Abilene.
Memorials may be sent to Hendrick Medical Center Foundation,
1242 N. 19th, Abilene, 79601; St. Paul United Methodist Church,
525 Beech, Abilene, 79601; or to the West Texas Rehabilitation
Center, 4601 Hartford, Abilene, 79605.
The family will be at 1342 Elmwood Drive.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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