Donald “Stan” McDonald, 87

Long-time Hull resident Stan McDonald died in a Florida hospice on February 10th, shortly after his 87th birthday.

Stan’s family moved to Hull when he was two years old, and he spent the next 60 years living, working, and playing in the town he so loved. He was an avid athlete, playing for the all-Europe baseball and basketball teams while in the service and played touch football well into his 50s. But his passion was swimming and spending time walking the Hull beaches. Passively, he was a fan of all professional sports, earning the nickname by which most people knew him in his early school years, arguing with friends that Stan Musial was a better ballplayer than Ted Williams.

Stan worked for the government most of his life - first as an air traffic controller and then as a postal worker in Hingham and Hull. He also served on the Hull Planning Board where he became an early advocate of beach renourishment, warning of the hazards of the rising sea.

Shortly after his retirement, Stan was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer and, as a result, lost his voice and became a neck breather. He subsequently moved to Florida where the humidity allowed him to breathe more easily. In a climate of year-round warmth, he often said his greatest regret in becoming a laryngetomee was not his loss of voice but his inability to swim.

Stan is survived by his wife and best friend, Joanne, of Rotonda West FL; son Jack of Wilton Manors FL; brother John and his wife Judith of Hull and Austin TX; sister Dorothea and her husband Jim of Tulsa OK; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his sisters Kathleen Nash and MaryLou Walsh and brother Daniel.

Friends and family gathered in Hull on August 8th to bid him farewell and allow him to swim once again.