Joseph Robert (Bobby) McDonald died on March 7 at Heritage Gardens Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Carrollton, Texas. He was born March 29, 1945, in Dallas and resided there for most of his life.
Bobby graduated from North Dallas High School and attended the University of Texas at Arlington. He served in the Texas Army National Guard during the 1960’s. He worked most of his adult life for his older brother, assisting with management of Firestone stores and later assisting with the operation of a nationwide auto transport and relocation business. During that time, he traveled and lived all over the U.S.
Survivors include his two older brothers, John (Nina), Rancho Cucamonga, CA and Pat, Era, TX and his younger sister, Mary McDonald Swartz (Ralph), Williamsburg, VA. He was uncle to the “McDonald kids,” -- Jamie, Robbie, Lysa, Sean, Cathy and Stephen McDonald. Michelle Grandinetti, our lifelong friend and sister from another mother also survives him.
Bobby was our brother, best friend, and biggest cheerleader; he had been in poor health for quite a long time. He did not complain about his physical failures and took each day as a gift and life as an adventure to be explored. His big heart finally gave out. He would have been 70 on his birthday, something he did not expect but anticipated fully.
He lived big and loved just about everything and everyone he encountered. We will miss his sense of fun, ready laugh and the endless conversations about movies, books, family and life's big and small events.
We will celebrate a memorial Mass in Dallas at the Calvary Hill Mausoleum, 3235 Lombardy Ln., on Saturday, April 18, at 10 a.m. He will be interred in the niche where our mother’s remains reside at the Mausoleum following the Mass.
A separate memorial Mass will be celebrated on Friday, April 24, at 7 p.m. in Williamsburg, VA at St. Olaf Catholic Church, 104 Norge Ln., Williamsburg, VA.
