A.W. McDonald, Jr.

A.W. McDonald, Jr. joined his Savior in Eternity from his home in Stonewall, Louisiana on August 28, 2024, surrounded by his loved ones. He will be fondly remembered for his life of service, dedication to family, and jovial personality. A private family graveside service will be held to memorialize this life well-lived.

He was born October 4, 1930, to Clara Heard McDonald and Add McDonald in a sharecropper house on a hill farm in his beloved Boliver near Converse.

Preceding him in death were his parents, his three siblings (Margie Smith, Audrey McDonald, and Bobby McDonald), three brothers-in-law, a nephew, and several cousins, including seven double-first cousins.

Left to cherish his memory are his wife of over 67 years, Diane Cathey McDonald, and their two children and spouses, Kyle (Tisdale), and Kathy (Dr. David Lewis).

“Pa” is also survived by five grandchildren: Brooks McDonald Campany (Port), Blair McDonald Hull (Drew), Timothy Lewis, Kade McDonald (Claire), and Mary-Kyle McDonald Maxwell (Johnny); and eight great-grandchildren: Porter and Wills Campany; Parker, Ella, and Kent Hull II; and Mary Ellis, Catherine Anne, and Eloise McDonald. His ninth great-grandchild, John Emmette Maxwell IV, is due in September.

“Mac” or “Uncle Mac” is also survived by Diane’s siblings (Lynn Owens, Tom (Martha) Cathey, and Martha Keener), and a number of nieces and nephews, including grand nieces and nephews.

He was raised on that rural Sabine Parish farm and graduated from Oak Grove (Sabine) High School in 1946 at the age of 15, by skipping the second grade, which in his words “changed my life time-line for the rest of my life”.

Fueled by an innate belief that education was the pathway out of poverty, he became the first of his family to enroll in college and set an example for generations of family educators.

Hitchhiking to and from Lafayette, he graduated from SLI, now ULL, at the age of 19 with a BS degree. He then worked a short period of time for the Sabine Parish School Board before joining the U.S. Air Force during the Korean Conflict. Entering as a Private, he attended Officers' Candidate School and was discharged as a 1st Lieutenant.

Following his service time, he received his master’s degree in Secondary Education from Stephen F. Austin University.

Arriving at Stonewall High School as an Agriculture Teacher in 1954, he held his bachelor and master’s degrees, 3 years of service time, and was still only 23 years of age.

In 1958, he was named Principal and math teacher at Stonewall High. In 1968, he was named Principal of Mansfield High School where he served 9 years. During this time, he also earned his master’s +30 from Northwestern State, with other credits earned from Louisiana Tech, Centenary, University of Arkansas, and LSU.

Those years of educating DeSoto Parish Schools students at Stonewall (now North DeSoto) and Mansfield High were very rewarding to him and to the students he impacted. Many of those students became his friends as they interacted in their adult years, even as most continued to refer to him as “Mr. Mac”.

In 1977, the Mansfield Vocational Technical School was built, and he was named its initial Director. It was his privilege to select all the equipment for this school and select the first staff. He served in this position for over five years. He then retired from education with 32 years of credited service at age 52. He referred to that as his First Retirement.

Following the death of his father-in-law, H. J. Cathey, he returned to Stonewall and joined his brother-in-law, Howard Cathey, in operating C & M Dairy. That dairy partnership lasted for 15 years before they sold the dairy, and he retired again; Second Retirement in 1997 at age 67.

During those dairy years, he was elected to serve on the DeSoto Parish Police Jury from the Stonewall area. He would serve over 23 years without a campaign opponent after that first election. He retired from the DeSoto Parish Police Jury in January 2016; Third Retirement at age 85.

A. W. accepted Jesus as his Savior at the age of 11 and was baptized at Fellowship Baptist Church in Oak Grove near Converse. He remained a Baptist until he joined the Stonewall Methodist Church in 1959 when his first child (Kyle) was presented for infant baptism by Diane and him. He served in many ways in the Stonewall Methodist Church, First Methodist Mansfield, and Christ United Methodist, Shreveport. Recently, he joined Salem Baptist Church.

The marriage of Diane and A.W. was a shining example of devotion and partnership, evident to all. The love they shared was the cornerstone of their family and a cherished legacy that will continue through their growing family. Together they attended many sports events for all ages, dairymen and policy jury conferences, and accomplished their goal of visiting all 50 states. Diane’s determination to care for A.W. at home during his last years was the culmination of that devotion.

His “Daddy’s girl” Kathy provided exceptional care to him, particularly during his last weeks, exhibiting her God-given nursing and inherited service skills.

God led A.W. through a wonderful and blessed life of service to others, with important, lasting lessons of integrity, humility, empathy, and justice imparted to his family, his students, his colleagues and his DeSoto Parish community.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 2 Timothy 4:7-8

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to a charity of choice.

Among charities, gifts may be made online to the A W McDonald Memorial Scholarship fund created at the Louisiana Tech Foundation www.latechalumni.org/AWMScholarship to provide scholarships to selected graduates of North DeSoto and Mansfield High Schools in memory of A.W., Daddy, Pa, Mr. Mac: all names for a good and honorable man.