On June 17th, 1969, Michael George McDonald entered this world and eventually became the 7th child of the 12 McDonald children. Each and everyone of us is here honoring Michael because we either knew him personally or we were blessed enough to get to know him by being a family member, threw his lovely wife Cate or being a friend of one of the other 11 McDonalds. No matter how we actually got to be apart of Mike’s life, each of us have our own memories and our own stories to tell on how Michael played such an important part of our lives. With Mike it didn’t matter how long you knew him, it could have been years, months or days. Bottom-line Mike had a way of touching lives in a unique and special way only he could and after being with him you always had this warm feeling knowing you’ve been blessed with someone as great as Mike in your life.

As Mike was dying I saw a cross that said: "In his heart a man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps." Proberbs 16-9

Why God determined to take Mike home to heaven at such a young age is God’s will and not for us to question, but to accept that Mike is in a far better place then you and I are here.

Mike would never want us to feel sad, especially, on his account. He would want us to hold him dear to our hearts, savor his presence in all the memories he helped us make and Mike would want us to go forward knowing our lives have been extra blessed because we had the opportunity to love and have Michael George McDonald in our lives.

Memorial Mass at St Joseph’s Church in Clayton at 3:00 PM on Friday, November 13th, 2009.