Thomas L. MacDonald
1936 – 2010
LEWISTON — Thomas Lloyd MacDonald, 73, of Eustis passed away peacefully Saturday, Feb. 13, at Central Maine Medical Center.
He was born Oct. 17, 1936, in Farmington, the son of Lloyd F. MacDonald and Beatrice (Leavitt) MacDonald. He grew up in Eustis, where his parents ran MacDonald’s General Store and local post office. He developed a lifelong love of nature, animals and hunting and fishing. He graduated from Stratton High School and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy in August 1955, serving as a corpsman.
During his service overseas, he narrowly survived a bout with spinal meningitis. He was deployed with the U.S. Marines in such locales as Lebanon, Spain, Greece and Italy. The latter of which is where he developed an appetite for Italian foods.
He was honorably discharged in August 1959, and enrolled in University of Maine at Farmington, where he graduated in 1963 with a bachelor of science degree in history. He went on to be a teacher and basketball coach in Union and Appleton high schools until 1965 when he was hired by the U.S. Customs Service, which would begin a 30-year career working along the Canadian border. In 1967, he transferred to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (USINS).
Tom met his wife of 42 years, Marie-Luise “Ise” (Fokken) MacDonald of Wulkenzin, Germany, on an early form of punch-card computer dating in 1966 and they married May 1, 1967 in Saco. They briefly lived in Stratton before moving to Coburn Gore, where they lived for 27 years. In 1995, he retired from government service and they moved to a home they built in Eustis along the Dead River.
Besides the Maine wilderness, his passions were sports and local history, specifically Maine’s involvement in the Civil War and the Dead River/Flagstaff area. He traced his family genealogy back to its Scottish Jacobite and Presbyterian roots, as well as to a voyager on the Mayflower, the only physician onboard the ship, Dr. Samuel Fuller. Ironically, he passed away on the 318th anniversary of a historic day in MacDonald history: the Glencoe Massacre, where members of the Scottish MacDonald clan were murdered in their sleep by an English-supported faction led by the Campbell clan. In what was his sarcastic, yet humorous delivery, he would be known to say “never trust a Campbell.”
From childhood he loved sports, particularly baseball and basketball. His favorite teams were the Cleveland Indians, Cleveland Browns, and the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team. He was happiest hunting white-tailed deer, fishing for trout at his favorite spots or watching sporting events at home.
Following the footsteps of his father, he belonged to the Masons – Mount Bigelow Lodge 202, and was a SAD 58 school board director for the last 14 years. He was a founding member of the Dead River Area Historical Society, and a lifelong historian and trader of Maine military memorabilia.
He had a strong wit and often opinions, caring little for ceremony or false pretenses. A down-to-earth, smart, funny and stubborn man, his voice will truly be missed. He would likely enjoy being remembered by one of his most common parting phrases, said usually with a sarcastic humorous wink, “Have fun!”
He is survived by his wife, Ise; two sons, Micah T. MacDonald and his wife, Anna, of Springfield, Va., and Duncan L. MacDonald of Medford, Mass.; and his two grandchildren, Joey and Alexandra.
Our special thanks to Dr. O’Reilly, Dr. King, Dr. Duval, Franklin Memorial Hospital, Central Maine Medical Center for the wonderful care he received.