J. Ralph McDonald

Dr. J. Ralph McDonald

1924 ~ 2015

Dr. J. Ralph McDonald, MD, aged 91, departed this life on Sunday September 20, 2015, at Charbonneau, OR, with children at his bedside.  Earlier that Sabbath day, Ralph's beloved Merilyn had a final tender visit with her eternal sweetheart.

Joseph Ralph McDonald, third of four children of Storm and Verna Jones McDonald, was born in Salt Lake City on January 28, 1924.  Ralph attended school in Heber City, UT, graduating from Wasatch High in 1942.  His early interests were music and his father’s automobile and livestock businesses.

Music was always one of Ralph's loves.  In high school he organized a dance band and later played trumpet in the Ellis Clyde dance band. He sang in church choirs and barbershop quartets.

Pre-medical education:  Idaho State and University of Utah, B.S. 1945.  Ralph had enlisted in the Navy, which assisted his medical education.  Ralph graduated from University of Utah College of Medicine in 1947 and married his sweetheart, Merilyn Bertoch.  Their marriage was later sealed eternally in the Salt Lake Temple on June14, 1954.  

Dr. McDonald interned at St. Vincent's Hospital in Portland Oregon with a one year fellowship in Orthopedic Surgery at The Portland Clinic. He had started in family medical practice in Pendleton, OR, but was soon called back to active military duty when the Korean War started.  He was a Naval Reserve officer, “loaned” to the Army, serving a year as an orthopedic surgeon at Madigan Army Hospital in Fort Lewis, WA; and then in military hospitals in Japan and Korea, honorably discharged as a 1st Lieutenant.

Ralph returned to Pendleton and spent 17 years as a Family Practitioner.  He greatly enjoyed family life in Pendleton and his patients there.  Pendleton was also an ideal environment for an avid horseman.  Ralph raised quarter horses for family activity, and then for racing and cutting horse competitions.

Ralph and Merilyn moved back to their native Utah, when he decided to complete his training as an Orthopedic Surgeon at the University of Utah, 1968-71.

Ralph opened the Bountiful Orthopedic Group and practiced there until 1987, when partial disability/spinal problems–from being thrown from a horse some years earlier–forced him to retire. He had served as team physician for the Utah Stars and the Utah Jazz.  He held numerous offices in hospitals and medical societies including president of two county medical societies and two hospitals. After retirement he volunteered at Homeless Clinic in SLC and UMAP.

Ralph McDonald was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and served a medical mission in the Dominican Republic with his wife Merilyn. He served in the bishopric, quorum presidencies, as the ward Young Men's President and in various capacities in Scouting.  He and Merilyn also served as Stake Dance Directors of the Union Stake in Oregon.

In 2011 Ralph and Merilyn moved from Bountiful, UT back to Oregon to be near their grandchildren, to the Spring Ridge retirement community.

Ralph is survived by his wife of 68 years, Merilyn Bertoch McDonald.  His sister Elizabeth (Betty) Hylton.  Daughter Patricia (Pati) M. Galloway (Wesley) Trumbull, CT.  Sons Joe (Melisa), Philip Storm (Eileen Grace) and Kevin (Sabrina). Grandson Jordan L. McDonald (McKennon), granddaughters Milo McDonald and Callie Jane McDonald.

Predeceased by his older brother Guy (Barbara) and Kent (Beverly also deceased).

Funeral service at 11 a.m. Saturday Sept. 26 (viewing at 9:45 a.m.) at the Mueller Park Stake Center, 1800 Mueller Park Rd. in Bountiful.  Interment at Heber City Cemetery, with Military Honors at 2:30 p.m.  In lieu of flowers, donations to Alzheimer’s research/support groups are suggested, or LDS Perpetual Education or Humanitarian Aid.