Robert Donald

Robert "Bob" H. Donald, age 74, of Kerkhoven, died Sunday afternoon, October 28th, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in St. Cloud.
Services will be held at 10 A.M. Friday, November 2, at the Assembly of God Church in Willmar with Rev. Bruce Schoeman, Rev. Sam Mayo and Rev. Doug Vagle officiating. Military Honors will be provided by the Austin F. Hanscom American Legion Post 167 of Willmar. The interment will be in the Ft. Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 P.M. Thursday at the church and one hour prior to the services. Memorials are preferred to the Missionary Aviation Fellowship, PO Box 47, Nampa, Idaho, 83653 or the Foreign Missions Department of the Assembly of God. Arrangements are with the Peterson Brothers Funeral Home in Willmar.
Robert Harold Donald was born on October 1, 1933 in Mt. Forest, Ontario, Canada, the son of Martha "Helen" Eleanor (Clark) and James Henry Donald. He moved as an infant with his family to Philadelphia, where he received his education and graduated from the Quaker City School of Aeronautics. Bob received additional flight training and his Airline Transport Pilot rating at Clementon Aviation in Clementon, New Jersey. On September 19, 1953, he married Arliss Jean Case in Glassport, Pennsylvania. A few months later, he was called to serve in the U.S. Army. Bob served during the Korean Conflict and served in Inchon, Korea from 1953 to 1955 and was discharged as a Master Sergeant. Early in his career, Bob was a pilot for Alleghany Airlines (now US Air) and Chief Pilot for Altair Airlines out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was also employed as a personal pilot for Walter Ammenberg, who at the time was the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom as well as the owner of Triangle Publications. In 1970, he received a missionary appointment to Papua, New Guinea in Indonesia with Missionary Aviation Fellowship. After returning to the United States, he flew as a corporate pilot for the Bethesda Foundation in Omaha, Nebraska; Younkers Department Store in Des Moines, Iowa; Smith Farms in Houston. Texas; and most recently for Glendal, Inc. out of Sunburg. Bob was also a gifted artist and mechanic. He operated his own graphic design company, Aviation Logo Design, in Houston, Texas during the 1980's. His most recent artistic endeavor was restoring a Victorian Home in Kerkhoven, where he lived after retiring in 1998.
He is survived by his wife, Arliss of Kerkhoven; a daughter, Joanie Sharon Donald of Rockford; two sons, Robert Edgar Donald (and his children, Elizabeth and Jacob) of Manchester, Connecticut and Dwight Douglas (and Paula Lynn) Donald of Manhattan, Kansas. Also surviving are two sisters, Winifred (and Bob) Schambach of Tyler, Texas and Helen (and Bill) Clark of Tyler, Texas; and a cousin, David (and Elana) Clark of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bob was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers.