John Earl McDonald

My uncle John, my mom’s oldest brother, passed away at the age of 95. Sonia and I were fortunate enough to have lunch with him not so long ago to celebrate his 93rd where he gave me one of his custom flintlock rifles. He overcame a tough adolescence to meet his potential and lived a good life.

John was born in 1931 in Sheridan, Indiana, to John Avery McDonald and Julia McDonald Greenwood (nee Kirkman). He attended Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, obtaining a BS and then a PhD in inorganic chemistry in 1961. During that period, he served in the US Air Force, working primarily as a nuclear technician based in Limestone, ME.

His lifelong interest in science and technology led him to New Mexico’s Sandia National Laboratories, one of the country’s most important centers for defense and aeronautical research. He worked at Sandia Labs from 1961 to 1973, and, in addition to many other projects, played a key role in the development of materials used in the Space Shuttle program. He moved with his family to southern California in 1973, where he worked at PDA Engineering in Costa Mesa, becoming the company’s president in 1978 and overseeing research and development of advanced aerospace technologies and engineering software. He retired in 1994.

John was an avid outdoorsman as well as a scientist. In New Mexico, he enjoyed camping, hunting, and fishing and built custom flintlock rifles, pistols, and ball ammunition. In California, he took up sailing and scuba diving and traveled the world, focusing especially closely on exploring Hawaii. He was a musician, playing the guitar and ukulele and performing informally across southern California with an ever-expanding group of fellow musicians. And he was a woodworker, building furniture and, after retirement, becoming a luthier and creating a series of finely crafted ukuleles.

John was married to Dana Gillies of Michigan from 1952 to 1967, with whom he had two sons, and to Margaret Barefoot of North Carolina from 1969 to 2018. He is survived by his loving and devoted partner, Sandra Maas, and his sons, John David McDonald of Kentucky and Hugh Evan McDonald of New Mexico. A private memorial service is planned at which his ashes will be scattered off the southern California coast.