A Tribute to Gene McDonald! I wanted to take a few minutes to tell you about my 35 years of friendship with Gene McDonald. Gene was the kindest, most loving, hardest working and giving man I ever knew. He was like a second father to me, and I actually knew him as long as I did my real father. He was an amazing man who was always there for me in the good times and the bad, and time and time again was there when no one else was, and no one else really cared. He truly was a man of God who showed God’s love to everyone. Every time we would eat Gene would pick up the check for the whole table, and never say a word about your lack of helping out for 100 times in a row. And every time we would eat or go out, he would find people to say hello to and ask with genuine concern how they were doing, and their family was doing. It didn’t matter where we where, he always found someone to say hello to and never failed to ask if needed anything. One of the most wonderful things about Gene was his total lack of ‘class’ awareness. He was a true friend to people who had no money, no home and no future. He was also a true friend to billionaires. It didn’t make any difference to Gene what you were worth, or what you looked or even smelled like for him to be concerned about you and to be your friend. I am sure most of you remember Mr. Burns, and that really shows Gene’s love of his fellow man. Gene loved his brother OH. They had the closest and most loving relationship of any brothers I have never know. They never quarreled for 70 years and saw each other on a daily bases. OH was a policeman and very frugal with his money, often not eating lunch to save money, even though he had tons of money. But when it came to fast cars, OH and Gene were never frugal. OH would buy the most expensive fasted car he could, only to find Gene had gotten a faster one with nitrous. They raced everywhere and every time they could. It was a true ‘fastest man alive’ competition that lasted for 50 years. Gene’s greatest love was his family, and children. Dena, Daniel, Elliot, and Haley. He loved them so much and no amount of money or time was spared to spoil them. Great vacations, the best schools, the best clothes, and fastest cars and motorcycles. He always bragged on his kids and always supported them. I never heard him say or allow anyone to say anything bad about any of his children. They were the joy of his life. Gene as the hardest working and one of the smartest working men I ever knew. He would often work 24 to 48 hour in a row to get an order out and he got 100,000’s of orders out. He also had a complete staff of Hispanic women and men working for him and he didn’t speak a word of Spanish. But he always got his points across. His genius for new designs and ideas was astounding. He came up with 4 or 6 new designs every few months for 30 years. And he would make a ‘gig’ in a flash and figure out how to bend, paint, and weld things an ordinary man could never imagine…but Gene was not an ordinary man. One of my favorite stories about Gene was when he first got the Contract with Donald Carter to build products for Home Interiors and how he won a new Cadillac in a raffle, which he promptly refused and asked that it be re-donated to the charity and raffled again to raise money. The famous Cowboy Star Roger Staubach was standing by him, and said he didn’t need to do that, but Gene insisted and subsequently got a lifetime contract, never written, but was good with only a handshake from Mr. Carter, and Gene. That was the kind of generous man he was, and how his word was his bond. His road trips by car were legendary in their distance and lack of stopping. He told me one time he and Daniel, and maybe Dena rented a car on Friday and drove to Daytona Beach Florida and back in 2 days. When he returned the car Sunday…it has 3,000 miles on it and the clerk didn’t believe it was possible, and for most normal men it wasn’t possible. But Gene made a habit of doing the impossible. And I never saw him give up anything that he wanted to make happen. When he started something...he finished it. He and I started several businesses over the years and he never failed to support my latest scheme to make millions, which we never did, but it never stopped him from trying again. He was always ready to try the next great idea, and we tried lots of things and some of them actually were great. He taught me more about business than I ever learned in 20 years of school. And one of the best things he taught me was when something big or bad happened…don’t do anything. Don’t react. Wait…wait a few days and let it sink it or settle out. Never react to a situation without thinking it through. Gene was my hero, my best friend for 35 years and I can truly say, as all of us who were lucky enough to be called his friends can say. He gave us a lot more than we ever gave him. He was one in a million. A man of integrity, love and his word. When Gene said something was going to happen…you could rest assured it would happen. We will miss him so much because he meant so much to all of us.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 23:03:59 +0000
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