Joseph John McDonald

Joseph (Joe) J. McDonald was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 9, 1939, to Joseph A. McDonald and Rose Lily (nee Vincent) McDonald. He passed away on June 24th at age 77. He was one of six children - Francis, Helen, Betty, Albert and a brother who passed before he was born. He is survived by his wife, Lois M., of 48 years. His son Jason J. McDonald and daughter Melissa E. Baker. He enjoyed going to all of Jason's sporting events and even helped coach one of his teams. He was very proud of his son and relished the time he was with him. He is also survived by two of his siblings Helen Hart and Albert McDonald and many nieces and nephews all of Pennsylvania. Joe loved the car business. It was his passion. In his career he worked for Pontiac, Toyota, Mazda and Daewoo.He loved them all. Working made Joe feel complete. He kept in touch with several employees at Mazda after he retired and would occasionally meet them for lunch. He would always look forward to those meetings and catching up on all the news.He dearly loved animals. When he first met Lois he was definitely not a cat person. However, Holly was a package deal and he became very attached to her.Our next cat, Tobi, was also endeared to him. Finally, Tommy, he would sit outside for hours with him. He was a fixture in our driveway, reading a book "watching" Tommy.Tommy greatly misses him. If there was an animal that needed help, he always showed compassion for them.

Joe was never much of a reader until about 15 years ago. He became enamored with thrillers and political dramas and always had a book with him.

When he was younger, he did beautiful stain glass pieces some of which are hanging in our home. He also tried his hand at woodworking. Since he was a perfectionist, the results were beautiful.He also enjoyed the poker group he was in. They met once a month and he always looked forward to it even though he never won much.We were fortunate enough to be able to travel to many places - Italy, France, Germany, England, Scotland, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Bahamas - the list goes on. In recent years though we had to limit our vacations to cruises as he was unable to walk great distances. He loved all the places we visited but I think his favorite trips were to Florence and Venice. I even got him interested in photography!

Joe lead a full life. We lived in many places throughout our 48 years together. Allentown, Hershey, Cannonsburg - all in Pennsylvania. Mason, Ohio, Nashville, Tennessee, St. Louis Missouri, and finally, for the past 30 years, Houston, Texas. He enjoyed living here and really put down roots.I know he did not expect to leave us on June 24th and he was looking forward to another cruise in August. His heart just ran out of steam.

"May he find comfort in the arms of Lord and everlasting peace."