'Mac' and Jimmy go way back: Cannonsburg man grew up with former president
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Feb. 26—CANNONSBURG — A classmate of Jimmy Carter's said the former president was "just one of the boys" when growing up together in Plains, Georgia.
Donald "Mac" McDonald, 97, and Carter were two of 25 students — 13 girls and 12 boys — who graduated from Plains High School in 1941.
McDonald, of Cannonsburg, moved from Georgia to Kentucky on March 15, 1946, after serving in the Navy as a fighter pilot in World War II.
He went to school from first through 11th grade — there were just 11 grades then — with Carter, who, at 98, is now in hospice care. McDonald's prom date for two consecutive years was Jimmy's sister Gloria.
"She was a real nice person. ... She was real pretty; nothing like Jimmy," McDonald cracked.
Born on Sept. 2, 1925, McDonald was raised on a 1,745-acre farm that produced corn, cotton, peanuts, sugarcane and watermelon. In his experience, he said, whites and Blacks intermingled pretty favorably in the rural community.
"Ol' Jesse Harris and Bubba Harris, we wrestled in the sand pile just about every night," he said.
Carter was the "brain of the class," McDonald said. When asked what his favorite school subject was, the sharp-witted McDonald replied, "None of them." He was more of an athlete, standing out in both wrestling and baseball.
McDonald earned a scholarship to play baseball at Georgia Tech, but he was drafted to serve his country. Carter was also in the Navy, but they weren't together.
McDonald was an ace fighter pilot who was stationed on the USS Ticonderoga. He trained primarily in Corpus Christi, Texas, and served in the Pacific theater.
"I went all around the Pacific," said McDonald, who was also on the USS Enterprise.
McDonald's jet was once peppered with 32 bullet holes.
"I never did see the bastard," he said.
The Japanese frequently soared the sky in the Mitsubishi A6M Zero.
"That Zero, once you got on its tail, you hit them wings and they were gone," McDonald said.
McDonald worked for his uncle's life insurance company following his Navy days.
"They opened up in Kentucky and I just came up here," he said.
Marrying a Kentucky woman was further rooted him in the Bluegrass.
McDonald was in Owensboro and Paducah before ultimately relocating to the Ashland area. He was an insurance agent and owned Ponderosa Golf Course before selling it to Rich Mahar, who renamed it Sandy Creek.
McDonald's first wife and daughter died. His second wife, Sylvia, passed away in 2011. They had no kids together, but McDonald does have two step-children — Sylvia's son, Rob, and daughter, Jill. Sylvia's artwork adorns many a wall in McDonald's home on Fairway Drive.
"Sylvia loved this house," said Renee Payne, McDonald's caretaker. "She loved to draw and paint and everything. She had a room upstairs that was her studio. She'd look out front and see a really beautiful, bright red Japanese maple tree."
Donald and Sylvia logged more than 500,000 miles in nine different RVs visiting "every state in the union," he said, in addition to Canada and Mexico. Every winter, they'd travel to Florida and would often stop in Plains. On one particular trip post-presidency, Carter happened to be home. The old buddies visited and reminisced for a while.
While in the White House, Carter was a gracious host to McDonald a few times, he said.
"I could go and come any time I wanted to in Washington, seemed like," McDonald said. "Just had to check in and let them know who I was."
When Carter campaigned in the 1970s, McDonald helped arrange a tour in Ashland.
McDonald said he didn't pay much attention to politics, but he did his civic duty by voting. And, yes, he voted for his old pal, Jimmy, in 1976.
Being Commander in Chief didn't change Carter much, McDonald said.
"Same ol', same ol'," he said. "He was just one of the group. Just because he was President, it didn't make him any different."
McDonald was impressed but not surprised by Carter's servant's heart.
"He kept his fingers in just about everything," McDonald said.
Carter is the longest-living president.
As for McDonald, he knows a thing or two about longevity, too.
His secret? "My heart's still beatin'," he quipped.
Payne said he had a hip replacement several years ago, and she thought, "oh, this is gonna be bad."
"But, nope, he's up walking the next day," Payne said. "He still drove right up until about three years ago."
McDonald's long-term memory is still sound. He enjoys casting his mind back to the close-knit community of Plains.
He and Carter are forever just "regular old country boys," he said.
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