Gatesville remembers Gaddy McDonald, longtime Army veteran and volunteer

Gaddy McDonald was the kind of Gatesville name people recognized at the Senior Center long before they saw it in an obituary. He spent much of his lunch hour at 208 N. Lutterloh, often scheduling appointments around midday so he could stop in, play dominoes, drink coffee and visit with friends.

Samuel Gaddy McDonald Jr. died Tuesday, April 21, 2026, at age 83. Funeral services were scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday, April 27, at Live Oak Baptist Church in Gatesville, with Pastor David Diggs officiating. Private burial was to follow at the McDonald Family Cemetery, a final reminder of how closely his life remained tied to the family and the town where he was born.

McDonald was born May 17, 1942, in Gatesville to Samuel Gaddy and Lila Dean Gannaway McDonald. He grew up and attended school in Gatesville, graduating from Gatesville High School in 1961. After high school, he spent time in Marfa, Texas, working as a cowboy on a ranch before returning home. He married Joyce Ann Drosche on Dec. 7, 1963, and the two shared 60 years of marriage before her death in 2023.

His working life also stayed rooted in Central Texas. McDonald served in the United States Army and later spent 30 years as a carpenter at Fort Hood, a career that linked him to one of the region’s largest employers for three decades. In retirement, he turned his attention to the work that kept Coryell County’s civic life moving.

He volunteered with Meals on Wheels in Coryell County, served as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army and supported the Coryell Museum and Historical Center, which exists to collect, preserve, document, exhibit and educate on the history of Coryell County. Those roles put him in the stream of local service that reaches seniors, families in need and residents invested in keeping the county’s history alive. The Coryell County Salvation Army service unit operates in Gatesville, and memorials could be made to Meals on Wheels through the Gatesville Senior Center.

For many in Gatesville, McDonald will be remembered as a veteran, a tradesman and a steady volunteer who showed up in the places where daily community life actually happens.