Bill McDonald

Francis William McDonald of Sauk Centre, Minn. died peacefully in his sleep, in the presence of his children, on December 20, 2017, after a ten-month battle with cancer. He was 85.

A Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, December 28 at St. Paul's Catholic Church in Sauk Centre with Rev. Tim Wenzel officiating and Rev. Sudhansu Kumar, O.S.B. concelebrating. Inurnment will be held in the parish cemetery with military honors provided by the Sauk Centre United Veterans Honor Guard.

Visitation will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at the Patton-Schad Funeral Home in Sauk Centre and from 10 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the church. Parish prayers will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday evening at the funeral home.

Bill was born on February 7, 1932 in Spencer, Neb. to Francis Earl and Lillian Ellen (Grady) McDonald of Bonesteel, S.Dak. Though he was born in Nebraska, married an Iowa girl and lived for most of his career in Minnesota, he proclaimed himself a lifelong West-River South Dakotan.

Bill became a published cartoonist at the age of 13 when the Mitchell (S.Dak.) Daily Republic began to include his comic strip, "Oddities and Ends of the Sunshine State," in its Sunday editions. After graduation from Bonesteel High School in 1950, Bill studied journalism at South Dakota State College, where he was also a member of the Reserve Officers' Training Corps. After his graduation in 1954, Bill served in the United States Army at Fort Ord and at Hunter Liggett Military Reservation, both in California. After his active service ended in 1956, he continued as a reservist until his honorable discharge at the rank of Captain in 1965.

Bill received the Master of Science in Journalism degree from Northwestern University's Medill School in 1958. On the staff of the Waterloo (Iowa) Courier he met fellow reporter Joan Marie Rumph. Joan and Bill were married at Elkader, Iowa on April 26, 1958. Joan remained his most exacting copy editor and best friend for 51 years, until her death in 2009.

The couple moved to Sauk Centre in 1960. Bill was editor of Independent Banker magazine and later served as executive director of the Independent Bankers Association of America's Sauk Centre office. He retired from full-time work in 1995. He soon took on his favorite job of all, as devoted grandfather to his daughter's three children.

Bill continued cartooning and writing throughout his life. Local readers will remember his cover art for Sodbuster during the 1990s. More recently, his anthology, The Coasts of Minnesota, was published by North Star Press in 2017. Bill's memoir, The Bird in the Gilded Birdcage, is undergoing final edits and will be published by North Star Press in early 2018.

Bill created whole worlds in his cartoon series and his caricatures of family members and friends. He especially enjoyed the cartooning style of Mad magazine's golden age; the comic writing of Mark Twain, Robert Benchley, S.J. Perelman, Ian Frazier and David Sedaris; and the song lyrics of Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart. Bill was an avid music lover. He played piano, and he sang throughout his life, as a teenager with his barbershop quartet, the Four B's, and later as a founding member of the choir for the Festival of Lessons and Carols, held for many years at the Church of the Good Samaritan in Sauk Centre. Bill was active in many community organizations, most notably the Sinclair Lewis Foundation.

Bill put his family and friends above all else. He will be remembered for his quick wit, his compassion and his willingness to share deeply in both the joys and the sorrows of those around him. He was preceded in death by his parents and his wife. He is survived by his sister, Patricia McDonald of Yankton, S.Dak.; son Michael McDonald (Darren Jones) of Alameda, Calif.; daughter Jeanie (Greg) Klasen of Sauk Centre; grandchildren Lillian, Veronica and Anthony Klasen; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and dear friends.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Eagle's Healing Nest in Sauk Centre.