Remembering Joe McDonald

With the upcoming public service and celebration of Joe McDonald's life on Jan 17, I feel compelled to share some of my experiences with him.

As a lifelong resident of the Mission Valley, I was well aware of Joe's involvement in establishing the Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, but I had never met him until March 2010, the year he retired as college president.

My wife, Tammy, and I had attended the annual Fort Connah Restoration Society (FCRS) meeting specifically to meet Joe. We had volunteered to plan the annual Montana Ghost Town Preservation Society meeting that was to be held in Polson. We wanted to ask Joe to be a speaker at the convention.

We left that Fort Conah meeting with Joe saying yes and my wife being installed as the new treasurer for FCRS.

Joe was passionate about Fort Connah, its history, its preservation and the upkeep of the McDonald's Family Cemetery where his great grandparents, Angus (a Scottish Highlander and fur trader for the Hudson Bay Co.) and Catherine (the daughter of a Nez Pierce princess and French Mohawk trapper), are buried.

Even after Joe retired as president of FCRS he remained very involved with all of their activities. This included all the open houses and Rendezvous, restoration efforts and hosting school children on field trips to learn the history of Fort Connah, and the fort’s involvement in the fur trade.

He would sometimes give talks to three different groups of 30 to 40 kids a day. It was amazing as each one of his talks was a little different but they all included the basics he wanted the kids to understand.

Joe was one of the most humble, friendly and outgoing persons I have ever known. He made my wife and I feel like we were a part of his family by inviting us to a number of his birthday parties. He constantly expressed his appreciation for what all of us were doing for Fort Connah. He will truly be missed.

David Steindorf

Vice President, Fort Connah Restoration Society

Charlo