Gary MacDonald

1949 - 2022

Gary Joel Macdonald, 72, of Everett, Washington, passed away with his wife, Margie, holding his hand here at home the way he wanted it to be.
Gary was born in Tacoma, Washington but moved to Seattle before he started school. He went to a Catholic grade and middle school and attended Garfield High School. He moved to Everett, Washington soon after that and lived in Maysville and Monroe but lived in Everett the last 25 years of his life.
He is predeceased by his parents and his daughter, Patti. He is survived by his wife, Margie, and his children, Gary MacDonald (ex Sara Kirk), Michele Hunsaker (husband, Mark), Byron Webb (wife, Jerilyn) and Jessica Stackhouse (ex Daniel Stackhouse and current Nathan Trosclair). He loved his 9 grandchildren: Erikk Sluss (wife, Rachal), Shelby Sluss and her son (great!) Riley Price with ex Alex, Philip MacDonald, Audrey Hunsaker, Jacob Hunsaker, Quincy Webb, Lauren Webb, and Peyton Stackhouse.
Gary worked for Boeing a total of over 35 years. In the early years, he obtained his RN license and worked as a nurse at various local hospitals and institutions. After 8 years when Boeing was rehiring, he went back to them and was able to work on Air Force One and was able to travel all over the world as a Quality Inspector with the AOC division. He truly loved his work, and he often told me that The Boeing Company had been very good to him.

His passions were riding his Harley motorcycle all over and traveling, especially cruising and taking trips all over the world. One of our favorite trips was a 12-day trip to Africa, both to South Africa and to Zimbabwe where we went on 5 safaris and saw all of the big 5 and lots of other animals and were able to go to an elephant reserve. We really enjoyed our trip tremendously. We cruised 4 times to Alaska and lots through the various parts of the Caribbean and many trips to Kauai and to Maui. We traveled a lot to Hong Kong and to Taiwan and to Bangkok and various places in Europe. We loved going to museums and cathedrals. He loved spending time with friends, especially Pat and Tom Kunkel and the Chehalis and Onalaska/Shoestring crew.
When Gary finally retired from Boeing on September 2, 2009, he got bored as I was still working, so he did some contract work for a couple of vendors working fairly close to home and handling a couple of vendors in Oregon. When I retired, it wasn't long that he quit working as well and we did a fair amount of cruising till he just couldn't any more due to his health.
While his various stints in the hospital and severe diabetes and kidney dialysis took a toll on him, he kept the good fight.
We thank the Puget Sound Kidney Center staff, especially Teri and Gina, and we thank his kidney doctor, Oliver Tai for shooting straight with him and helping both of us. We really want to thank Dr. Emily Savage of the Everett Clinic who helped us at the end of his life
Gary will be deeply missed by his family and many friends.

September 18, 1949 - April 2, 2022