Birth date: Jan 28, 1950 Death date: Jul 2, 2025
Richard “Dick” McDonald, 75, passed away on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at Decatur Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. He was born on January 28, 1950, in Bloomington, IL, the son of Robert Paul McDonald and Donna Davis McDonal Read Obituary
Mr. McDonald was my insurance agent from age 16 until he retired. My first day driving my own car by myself, I was pulling out of a gas station slowly and barely scraped a car next to me. As a 16-year-old being yelled at by another adult driver for hitting his car was completely terrifying. When things calmed down the other driver at first agreed that the damage was negligible and wanted to brush the whole incident off. As Mr. McDonald had instructed me to do, I insisted we get a police report and exchange information. The other driver continued to insist we didn’t need to involve the police and drove off. The police came out, examined my car (there was no damage) and filed a report.
The next day, Mr. McDonald reached out to me and told down all the details. He assured me that I had done the right thing and he was glad that I was ok and no one had gotten hurt. When he reached out to the other person involved their story had changed and they claimed that their vehicle now had serious alignment issues and other problems caused by our cars barely touching at about 10 mph. He informed them that it was ridiculous to try to claim that kind of damage could have happened from such a minor accident and the only thing that would be taken care of was touch-up paint for the 1” mark of paint I had left on the side of their car and that he had a full report of everything that happened including them leaving the scene instead of waiting for the police.
I was relieved and grateful for his understanding and for standing up for a scared teenager who was way over his head. I will always value how he went above and beyond for myself and for my family.
He will be deeply missed and my condolences go out to his family.
I became a friend of Richard’s through the Flat Land British Car Club and later as a fellow member of the Illini Chapter of the Austin-Healey Club of America. I enjoyed visiting Richard’s Man-Cave, where he spent many hours restoring his “Big” Healey. His fabrication skills were impressive. Richard will truly be missed by me and his many British car friends 🇬🇧😍
First and second pictures were taken last September 30, 2023: Dad and Mom Jean attending granddaughter Karina’s high school marching band competition at Mt. Zion High School. The third picture was Dad’s birthday last January 28, 2024 with granddaughters Karina and Khyra. The last photo was Me and Dad last April 08, 2023 at Fairview Park. You will forever be in our hearts Dad. We love you.
