Petaluma businessman pursues adventure

A third-generation Petaluman, Gary McDonald is a veteran, a pilot and a local businessman.|

To describe Gary McDonald as an adrenaline junkie would probably be inaccurate and miss the point. Although he clearly fits the description in some ways, he’s much too calm and reasoning to fit that profile. That’s not to say he hasn’t pushed himself to uncomfortable limits and beyond, which makes it hard for me, the sedentary type, to imagine why anyone would take on the hardest jobs, face the toughest challenges and deliberately fly into windswept backcountry canyons just for fun.

A third-generation Petaluman whose grandparents, Hugh and Minnie Purdy arrived from Ireland, McDonald was raised by his mother, Barbara, who worked at Poultry Producers, and stepfather Leroy McDonald, a mill worker at Hunt & Behrens.

A dedicated worker from early on, it was his athletic prowess as a three-sport athlete at Petaluma Junior High School that persuaded the city parks department director Dick Shollenberger to offer him his first paying job, umpiring Midget League baseball in the summer of 1962. A few months later, although he was just 14 years old, he was hired to catch chickens at night for Reif and Brody processors, undeniably one of the most physically demanding jobs around and almost unheard of for a teenager. It was extremely hard work, but those who could hack it, loved it.

“Chicken catchers could beat everyone at arm wrestling,” McDonald assured me.

Working at night kept him from playing sports at Petaluma High School, but that was the trade off for earning enough money to buy a car. He then worked at Corippo’s Market, until deciding he wanted to haul hay, which many Petalumans considered the most grueling and physically challenging of all jobs.

A 1965 Petaluma High School graduate, McDonald joined the Navy during the escalation of the Vietnam War and was sent to South Vietnam, where as a member of the Seabees Mobile Construction Battalion 4, he became proficient at operating heavy equipment. For braving enemy fire and working under “impossible” conditions on two separate occasions, he was awarded the Army Commendation Medal and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Bronze Star and Combat V.

Discharged from the service, McDonald bartended at Gilardi’s Bar, the Alley Room, Mister McGoo’s and the Petaluma Inn before getting a call from the Operating Engineers, where he spent about three years gaining experience before getting his General Engineering license and opening his own business, Gary McDonald & Son.

McDonald found his niche in designing and creating landscaped swimming pools, waterfalls and custom water features. Benefiting from his highly creative artistic design, his company gained a stellar reputation for the magnificent appearance of its natural, chemical-free swimming pools and ponds that integrate aquatic plants for filtration.

“If you’re going to be on someone’s property for an extended period, you want the results to be extraordinary,” McDonald explained.

Obviously a hard worker and needing an outlet to match his enthusiastic approach to life, he became inspired by Richard Bach’s novel, “Illusions,” and by the movie “Out of Africa,” and learned to pilot small aircraft.

“There’s nothing quite like flying alone for the first time,” McDonald noted.

But true to form, he wasn’t enamored with flying in a straight line. He wanted excitement, the kind you get from landing on remote beaches and airfields.

Fast-forward to the 1990s and his marriage to his wife Karen, who taught in the nursing department at Santa Rosa Junior College, and their operation of a 200-acre horse ranch. McDonald suffered a broken back after being bucked-off a colt and was advised to stay off of horses. Disappointed but not dismayed and wanting to keep in touch with his cowboy friends in Wyoming, he took up mountain flying, which stoked his passion for adventure.

Mountain flying, or back-country flying, demands exacting precision, but offers the most fulfilling and intense personal challenges. With a small margin for error, it often requires flying slow and landing on tiny airstrips, which is exactly what an adrenaline-infused, somewhat impulsive, and very confident pilot like McDonald demands.

He’s a past-president of the Petaluma Area Pilots Association, a member of the Utah Back Country Pilot’s Association, and Native Sons of the Golden West, Nicasio Parlor No. 183. To keep the adrenaline flowing, he’ll soon be heading to West Texas, where he’ll participate in the construction of the 10,000 Year Clock project, deep inside of a mountain.

To learn more about McDonald’s company, visit mcdonaldpools.com.

(Harlan Osborne’s column Toolin’ Around Town appears every two weeks. Contact him at harlan@sonic.net.)

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