Roy Joseph McDonald

May 17, 1921 -- October 22, 2003Roy Joseph McDonald, a pioneer in the nursing home industry in Washington State, died at Whitman Health and Rehabilitation Center in Colfax, Washington on October 22, 2003. A Funeral Mass is set for St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Colfax on Wednesday, October 29, 2003, at 10:00 a.m. Graveside burial with military honors will follow the funeral at Colfax Cemetery.He was born on May 17, 1921 in Charlo, Montana to Lucinda and William McDonald, and attended schools in Charlo and Pablo before graduating from Polson High School in Polson, Montana in 1940. He enlisted into the Navy on April 8, 1941 in the Navy Hospital Corps, where he served in the Third Marine Division, and was wounded during the invasion of Guam on July 21, 1944. Upon his discharge from the Navy he was hired by the Kitsap County Health Department in Bremerton, and attended Olympic Community College. He married Carol Louise Rossman in Bremerton, Washington on June 27, 1948.He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Public Health from Washington State University in 1954. He was a licensed nursing home administrator in Montana and Washington State. He moved to Colfax in 1950 to take a job with the regional Health Department as a supervising sanitarian for Whitman, Asotin, Columbia, Garfield, and Adams Counties, where he remained for ten years.He operated some of the first large privately-owned skilled nursing facilities in the U.S. He was a member and served as president of the Washington State Sanitarian's Association. He served two terms, 1959 and 1961, as president of the Washington State Nursing Home Association, and also was the association's legislative and political action committee chairman for more than 15 years. He was a founding member of the Washington State Health Facilities Association, and was on its Board of Governors for ten years. He was elected Regional Vice President of the American Nursing Home Association in 1960, and later became first vice president of the association from 1963 to 1964 and its president from 1965 to 1966.He received numerous awards for his service to the nursing home industry, business community, and state and federal governments. He was a member of the Governor's Nursing Home Council in 1968, the Governor's Mental Health Advisory Committee from 1970 to 1972, and the Governor's Medical Advisory Committee in 1973. On the federal level, he served as advisor to the Federal Health Administration, as a member of the H.E.W. Welfare Advisory Commission in 1964, and as part of the expert committee that reviewed the rules covering extended care facility participation in Medicare from 1963 to 1966. he was also a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1960 and the White House Conference on Health in 1965.He received national recognition for coordinating the repatriation of over 100 Cuban refugees in 1961 and 350 refugees from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos since 1975.He was preceded in death by his wife, Carol, who passed away on October 6, 1996. He is survived by his brothers, Robert McDonald, of Vancouver, and Jack (Ruby) McDonald, of Pullman; sister, Lenore (John) Peterson, of Bremerton; children, Dennis (Trish) McDonald, of Colfax, Lorraine (Dan) Fulfs, of Pullman, Mary (Gary) Mann, of Helena, Montana, Paul McDonald, of Colfax, Chris (Rick) Wells, of Colfax, and Patrick McDonald, of Olympia; 13 grandchildren; and 19 great-grandchildren.The family suggests memorials be made to the Morning Star Boys Ranch.Arrangements have been entrusted to Bruning Funeral Home of Colfax, Washington.