TOM MC DONALD RITES THURSDAY Tom McDonald, son of the late John McDonald, and a descendant of one of the county’s oldest pioneer families, died last Monday at the Blair hospital at the age of 58 years.

He had been ill for some time suffering from cancer and the last few months had suffered intensely.

He was born and reared in the McCarthy school district and after his marriage to Miss Dora Richter he had farmed the old Chris Richter farm near Herman. He had lived in the Herman neighborhood for the past thirty two years.

He was a member of the Masonic Lodge at Herman and had served as Worshipful master for two years and also as Worthy Patron of the Eastern Star Lodge.

He was one of a family of eleven children and the second to go. In his associations with men he was highly esteemed and honest and upright in his dealings and of a quiet and kindly disposition he drew people to him. Besides the wife and two children, Mrs. Chester Spiker and Keith at home, he leaves four sisters and five brothers to mourn his death. They are Mrs. Oscar Rood of Wyoming; Mark and Clyde of Omaha; Delmar of Papilion; Mrs. Wm. Grace of South Omaha; Charles of Omaha; Mrs. Lawrence Miller of Blair; Mrs. Clarence Olson of Tekamah and Russell of Blair.

Funeral services were held this Thursday afternoon from the Methodist church under the auspices of C. K. Bendorf, mortician, with Rev. Sydney McCaig officiating.

The John McDonald family of which the deceased was a member was closely knitted in the bonds of family love and one of the brothers, Clyde of Omaha, has submitted a touching poem which he penned in his grief for his brother. It appears on page four.

In Memory Of Thos. W. McDonald “Gone To Dreamland”

Our brother has gone to dreamland many miles away,
It seems as though he’s coming back
But I know He’s gone to stay.
He will long be remembered
By the many friends he made
He didn’t have an enemy
For which to be afraid.
His home was a meeting place
Where we all loved to go,
The only thing that stopped us
Was a driving rain or snow.
He raised two children
His real pride and joy,
Just the two of them
A girl and a boy.
His wife was a real partner
No better could be found
She always did her work
And helped him all around
He plowed the ground
And sowed the seed,
That bought the things
That they would need.
And when the crops were harvested
And everything was done,
He began planning
For the next year to come.
Now his work is all finished
And he has done his best
Our brother has gone to dreamland
For a long and needed rest.
Clyde E. McDonald

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

Find a Grave Memorial #7671158