Robert Duncan Macdonald

Former Resident Was

Active In Community

Longtime Newtown resident Robert Duncan Macdonald, 94, died April 7, in Wheat Ridge, Colo., after a long illness. He was born in Billings, Mont., September 8, 1915, to May Amelia Macdonald and Spafford Duncan Macdonald.

Known variously as Bob, RDM, Mac, Dad, Golden Bob, Macdad, Grandpa, GBob, and GrandBob, he graduated from the Montana School of Mines and MIT. His career as a mining and metallurgical engineer took him all over the globe. He worked at the Watertown Armory for the Atomic Energy Commission; United States Mining, Milling and Refining Corporation; Battelle Memorial Institute, Bonneville Limited; and finally retired as vice president of Newmont Mining. In each position, he was a well-known and highly respected expert. He loved research and the lab, and helped develop several important mining techniques.

Mr Macdonald married Mary Ellen Wiggenhorn in 1940, and they had six children. As his work required, the family moved from Massachusetts to Ontario, Canada, Ohio, Salt Lake City, and Newtown.

He was always involved in community service, contributing to the vitality and fabric of every town in which he lived. After moving to Newtown in 1966, he was involved in The Newtown Friends of Music, Newtown Historical Society, The Horticulture Club, Trinity Episcopal Church, The Rotary Club, and became a burgess of the Borough. His house, “The big yellow house on the corner of Queen and Glover,” was a local navigational landmark.

After he retired, he and his wife enjoyed traveling with family and friends to many places in Europe, Africa, and Central America. After Mrs Macdonald died in 1992, he married longtime friend Eleanor Schlechten, and relocated to Golden, Colo. She was a wonderful companion; they traveled extensively, with music, history, and gardening as their primary goals.

Mr MacDonald is survived by five children, Josephine Matlock and her husband, Dick, of Colorado Springs, Margaret Stewart and her husband, Mark, of Ketchum, Idaho, Doug Macdonald of Salt Lake City, Alice Tyrrell and Reinhard Mueller of Salt Lake City, and David Macdonald and his wife, Charee, of Lafayette, Colo.; four grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren. In addition to his first wife, Mr Macdonald was preceded in death by his eldest son, Duncan.

His family and friends will miss his great sense of humor and the stories of yore that were the core of his being.

A memorial service was held April 12 at Calvary Episcopal Church, Golden, Colo.

The Newtown Bee        May 14, 2010