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The temptation is to write about how John Randal McDonald lived his life as a consequence of his experience as a child. Rather than take a position on the argument that everything in adulthood can be traced back to childhood, we’d like to share with you what we’ve learned about JRMcD’s childhood, school years, military service, university years, marriage, and fatherhood. You can judge whether one’s early years inform the course followed as an adult for yourself. Regardless of conclusions, you will likely find that John Randal McDonald lived a robust, remarkable life.
“When you can imagine you begin to create and when you begin to create you realize that you can create a world that you prefer to live in, rather than a world you’re suffering in.”
Ben Okri – Nigerian Poet/Author
Photograph of John Randal McDonald from McDonald family collection – used with permission
During our research, we’d conduct interviews, meet McDonald’s friends clients and colleagues, and spend time with family members. During a review of the stories told to us, we’d very often think to ourselves, “I can’t write about this – that’s too much unbridled fun to be true, that’s got to be an exaggerated adventure, this memory must have gone awry!” It was surprising to soon learn, however, that the stories repeated themselves from multiple sources. Then we’d hear, “I know….unbelievable, but it’s true. JRMcD would tell me something and I’d dismiss it as unbelievable – until I’d meet a character in the plot and find out that the whole thing is true.”