FIFTH OPENING – The Sitka seine boats Hukilau and Rose Lee pump herring aboard this afternoon at the end of Deep Inlet during the fifth opening in the Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery. The opening was being held in two locations beginning at 11 a.m. (Sentinel Photo by James Poulson) 

New RFP Sought For Managing PAC
27 Mar 2024 14:48

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The future of management and operations at the Perform [ ... ]

Seiners Get Second Day with 2 Areas to Fish
27 Mar 2024 14:46

By Sentinel Staff
    The Sitka Sound commercial herring sac roe fishery continued today with open [ ... ]

Braves Take Second in Last Minute Upset
27 Mar 2024 12:41

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    After storming into the state 3A boys basketball brac [ ... ]

Tuesday City League Volleyball
27 Mar 2024 12:39

By Sentinel Staff
    The Queen Bees’ spotless season record ended Tuesday night with a 2-1 loss [ ... ]

Kodiak Alutiiq Museum Getting New Attention
27 Mar 2024 12:37

By SHIRLEY SNEVE
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    A major renovation at an Alaska museum to attract tourist [ ... ]

House Hearing on Inmate Deaths Halted
27 Mar 2024 12:35

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
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    A presentation about a jump in the number of inmate deaths in  [ ... ]

Nominee to Bering Sea Council: Not a Trawler
27 Mar 2024 12:34

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Tribal and environmental advocates calling for a crackdown o [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Police Blotter
27 Mar 2024 12:26

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 26
At 2:10 p.m. a man e [ ... ]

March 27, 2024, Community Happenings
27 Mar 2024 12:25

Big Rigs Sought
For April 13
The 3 to 5 Preschool’s spring fundraiser and Big Rig event is happening [ ... ]

Reassessments Raise Tax Bills for Sitkans
26 Mar 2024 15:22

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The city’s reassessment of taxable real estate, alo [ ... ]

Two Areas Opened in Herring Fishery Today
26 Mar 2024 15:21

By Sentinel Staff
The third opening in this year’s Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery was held Mon [ ... ]

Lady Wolves Rally to Take Fourth at State
26 Mar 2024 15:16

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Sports Editor
    Sitka High’s Lady Wolves bounced back from an openi [ ... ]

Edgecumbe Girls Close Out Season Up North
26 Mar 2024 14:58

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel ports Editor
    Competing in the state 3A basketball tournament in Anc [ ... ]

City League Monday
26 Mar 2024 14:55

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing in a competitive division City League volleyball game Monday evening [ ... ]

House Votes to Broaden Rules For Review Panel Memb...
26 Mar 2024 14:52

By JAMES BROOKS
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    A bill that passed the Alaska House of Representatives on Monday  [ ... ]

Alaskan Grilled in D.C. Over Climate Science
26 Mar 2024 14:51

By NATHANIEL HERZ
Northern Journal
    Gus Schumacher, the Anchorage Olympic cross-country skier, a [ ... ]

Faster Internet Speeds In Rural Schools OK'd
26 Mar 2024 13:53

By CLAIRE STREMPLE
Alaska Beacon
    Alaska’s rural schools are on track to access faster interne [ ... ]

Native Words Gathered In Environment Studies
26 Mar 2024 13:52

By YERETH ROSEN
Alaska Beacon
    In the language of the Gwich’in people of northeastern Alaska,  [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Police Blotter
26 Mar 2024 13:49

Police Blotter
Sitka police received the following calls by 8 a.m. today:
March 25
At 7:48 a.m. a calle [ ... ]

March 26, 2024, Community Happenings
26 Mar 2024 13:48

Vietnam-Era Vets
Invited to Lunch,
Commemoration
American Legion Post 13 will host a luncheon 1-3 p.m.  [ ... ]

Sac Roe Herring Fishery Opens in Hayward
25 Mar 2024 15:30

By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The 2024 Sitka Sound sac roe herring fishery got under [ ... ]

Projects on the Table For Cruise Tax Funds
25 Mar 2024 15:28

By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The Assembly will start the annual process of determi [ ... ]

Braves Take Second at State after Close Loss
25 Mar 2024 15:23

By Sentinel Staff
    Competing in the 3A state championship title basketball game Saturday, the M [ ... ]

City League Games Continue
25 Mar 2024 15:11

By Sentinel Staff
    Playing through the afternoon Sunday, City League volleyball teams faced off [ ... ]

Other Articles

Daily Sitka Sentinel

John ‘Mac’ MacDonald Dies; Former Resident was Age 91

John Morrison “Mac” MacDonald

John Morrison “Mac” MacDonald, born in Longview, Washington, February 5, 1931, died peacefully on May 7 in Seattle, Washington, surrounded by his immediate family. He was 91.

As a boy in Longview, Mac worked for his father’s glass company, “Twin City Glass,” and spent the summers with his parents and three older brothers in a cabin on Lake Shasta. His father, Malcolm MacDonald, told his four boys many stories of his adventures in Alaska prospecting for gold in the early 1900s.

In 1950, Mac enlisted in the United States Air Force in and served stateside during the Korean War. He was honorably discharged in 1953. His military service helped him to begin college at Texas Tech, and to finish his bachelor’s degree in history at the University of Washington in 1959. He went on to earn a law degree from the University of Washington in 1963.

Although Mac had loved law school, he was not fond of being a lawyer. In 1967, he came to Sitka and took a job as general manager of Sitka Readi-Mix, a concrete mixing and pouring company. During his time there, the Readi-Mix poured the foundations of many notable structures in Sitka, including the O’Connell Bridge.

He often traveled back to Seattle to visit friends, and the university, he met the love of his life, Joyce Marie German, a researcher at the University of Washington Hospital at the time.

In 1970, Joyce joined him Sitka, and they were married in the home of friend Roy Paschal. In 1972, Mac and Joyce purchased Sitka Men’s Store on Lincoln Street from Howard and Edith Bradshaw. The store was later renamed MacDonald’s. Despite Mac and Joyce’s having no experience in clothing retail, the business took off and allowed them to move into the newly-built Bayview Trading Company at 407 Lincoln. They expanded their business to include women’s and juniors’ clothing and, in 1980, they opened the Russian American Company, which sold Alaskan and Russian fine arts and crafts. The building was remodeled in 1982, with the help of close family friend and architect Fred Bassetti.

When Mac wasn’t working in the stores, he could be found in the woods or on the waters of Sitka Sound. He knew his way around the islands without a map, and preferred to go fishing  in a 16-foot skiff with just an outboard motor and no cabin, digging for clams, harvesting abalone, or beachcombing. He loved to hike with Joyce, and in 1971, along with friend Chuck Oullette, found a corduroy road which led to the large, abandoned campsite  where a mining company had hoped to find gold in Pande Basin.

In later years, Mac became the director for the “Save Sitka See House” effort, and was instrumental in bringing about much-needed refurbishment to the See House next to St. Peter’s by the Sea on Lincoln Street.

Mac is survived by his wife Joyce, daughter Moira and son-in-law Jesse Kingsley.

Mac’s ashes will be interred at St Peter’s Community Urn, and donations in his honor can be made to St. Peter’s, or the Sitka Music Festival.

A celebration of Mac’s life will be held 1 p.m., June 26 at Harrigan Centennial Hall. All are welcome.

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20 YEARS AGO

March 2004

Matthew C. Hunter of Sitka recently returned from Cuba as part of a St. Olaf College International and Off-Campus Studies program. Hunter, a junior physics major at St. Olaf College, is the son of Robert and Kim Hunter of Sitka.


50 YEARS AGO

March 1974

Eighth graders have returned from a visit to Juneau to see the Legislature. They had worked for it since Christmas vacation ... Clarice Johnson’s idea of a “White Elephant” sales was chosen as the best money-maker; Joe Roth won the political cartoon assignment; highest government test scorers were Ken Armstrong, Joanna Hearn, Linda Montgomery, Lisa Henry, Calvin Taylor and David Licari .....

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