Donald R. McKay's Obituary
Donald R. McKay, 86, of Pleasanton, passed away on January 19th, 2018. He was born in Oakland, CA on October 4, 1931, and graduated from Oakland’s Fremont High School in 1949. Don McKay married his late wife, Donna McKay, in June of 1963.
Don became an Oakland Firefighter in 1961, where he worked mostly as an engineer for over 31 years, before retiring in 1992. He enjoyed playing golf, but truly loved bowling, and competed annually in California’s “Firefighters Olympics”. Although Don McKay was a career firefighter, his true passion was flying in the U.S. military, where he served five years as a Marine Corp fighter pilot. Don loved his flight training, flying the powerful F-6F Hellcat. He then went on to piloting the early “jet-fighter” aircrafts during the Korean War. He was part of a “Night-Fighter” squadron that routinely patrolled Korea’s 38th Parallel. Don often said that he never felt more “alive” than he did as a fighter pilot.
Donald McKay recently lost his loving sister, Carolyn Ferrell, and was survived by his three children; Heather, Barry, and Brett, in addition to his five grandchildren; Riley, Maya, Maximus, Xavier, and Elyse.
There will be a “Celebration of Life” ceremony for Don McKay on Sunday, Feb.25 at the “Eagles” Club 527 N. Livermore Ave Livermore, CA 94551 from 2-4pm. We hope you can join us there for food and fun “Dondo” stories.
EVERYONE is invited, and no RSVP is necessary. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Heather Novak at 805-506-9271, or via email [email protected]
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