Alphabet File page 244
McDonald, Mrs. W. A.
Centennial Chats With Old Residents
Eighty-nine-year-old Mrs. W.A. McDonald who has resided for the last 54 years in the McDonald Homestead at 502 North Beach.
She is the widow of William Albert McDonald, who sold his furniture store in Holly Springs in 1902 and came to the coast, intending to locate at the new lumber and railroad booming town of Gulfport. But on a visit to his cousin Judge McDonald at Bay St. Louis, fell completely in love with the town and its townsfolk, bought out the small feed store of a man named Green, and proceeded to establish the prominent present day 56-year old Bay St. Louis business known as W.A.McDonald and Sons.
At first the McDonalds lived in a small rented house near the feed store which itself was near the L&N depot.
And then one day in 1904, house hunting as women are wont to do, Mrs. McDonald saw and determined to own the present house at 502 North Beach.
"The house was then already fifteen years old, Mrs McDonald said, ripely mellowed with a heap of living. It seems it had been built in 1889 by Charles Sanger for a
Frenchman by the name of Telhiard who had inherited about $100,000 from France, and during the years he owned and occupied it was famous for the sumptuous repasts he served to the increasing number of relatives and friends that constantly converged on his hospitality knowing the huge dining room table would be almost swaybacked with a huge roast turkey at each end, vintage wines and all the trimmings. Whether they ate him out of house and home I dont know, but anyhow he only owned it a few years.
When I saw it first it was the summer home of the second owner who also had suddenly got rich, was traveling all over the world and has turned it over to Mr. Mendes, a Bay St. Louis real estate man, to sell. I named the price I would pay. Mr. Mendes relayed the offer to the owner and to everybodys surprise including my own he accepted-and I found myself the mistress of this grand old house in which I have lived and loved every minute of it ever since. "See that wallpaper in what was the living room? That is the original wallpaper of such excellent quality and put on so well that I have never had the heart to change it or cover it up. Even now it hasn't a crack or tear. "In the back of the house there is still the old brick cistern which the owner who preceded us used to keep his fine wines and liquors. And the old homemade bathtub that was in the house when we acquired it over a half century ago is going to be exhibited during Centennial Week. "This Centennial excitement reminds me of the old days when the KNOW MISSISSIPPI BETTER train would leave the coast and travel all over the country with a lot of us aboard as ambassadors of good will. Once in Washington, D.C., I ran across a man who knew Carl Marshall well, the son of one of our neighbors.
"Oh yes, this part of the Bay was built up even fifty years ago and a good many of the old homes, besides this one, are still landmarks-such as the old Breath place just below. That was the home of Colonel Marshall, superintendent of the L&N. It is now owned by Leo Seal of the Hancock Bank. "Of course, over the years, among the old homes like this one have been built a lot of modern dwellings-but I still prefer this roomy, rambling, high ceilinged old house that has been my home for over half a century." (Sun Herald 7/29/1958)
McDonald, W. H. Capt of the schooner "CENTENNIAL" the night she was wrecked in the hurricane of 1 Oct 1893 in front of Mr. F. Butler's house in Waveland. Capt. McDonald was the brother of Hon. John McDonald, Mayor of P. C. He was washed overboard but managed to save himself on the railroad bridge. (Daily Picayune 6 Oct 1893).
McDonald, Judge Will T., for years local attorney and circuit court judge. Later moved to Memphis. He resided at 402 N. Beach. Also, he had a home called "Rosedale" that had previously belonged to Mayor Ulman. Same? (SCEJUB42p28)
McDougall, Mrs. R. J., 810 S. Beach (Ph 48 thru 50, 55)
McEnery, John Mrs. Ex-Governor was visiting in Bay St. Louis this week. (SCE - 10/1/1892)
McEvoy, Geo. A. r Poinset Ave., Clermont Harbor (Ph 55)
McFarland, Dr. Wesley F. ofc. 310 2nd St. (Ph 55) r 2nd.
(Ph 55) 1008 N. Beach. (1968 phone)
McFARLAND, DR. WESLEY,
"After three years of cruises, doctor returns to ER"
Who among us would not like to retire from our jobs to go on cruises? Working on the ships, no less. That's exactly what Dr. Wesley McFarland and his wife, Rosemary, did.
After some 16 years in general practice in Bay St. Louis and 19 years in emergency medicine, he decided to retire. He says George Burns put it so appropriately. He found that retiring at 65 is ridiculous, because he still had pimples. Dr. McFarland adds that the trouble with retiring is that you wake up in the morning and you are already on the job.
So he decided to look into cruise ship medicine and signed on as a cruise ship doctor. For the next three years, he and his wife, Rosemary, spent 54 weeks on different ships for different companies and in different parts of the world. They enjoyed the fancy meals, shows and ports, and his patients were happy, upbeat people.
His emergency room experience was perfect for this setting. He found most of the ships to be well equipped and well staffed. He served on the Norway two times for six weeks each. The ship had an eight-bed hospital with a cardiac care unit, a lab and X-ray department and was staffed with two doctors and four nurses.
But even the exciting, romantic lifestyle got tiring, and they have taken a break after their June 1994 cruise to Alaska. Just a break from "cruising," not work.
He re-entered emergency medicine practice, first helping provide coverage for Crosby Memorial Hospital in Picayune and now at Stone County Hospital in Wiggins. As he said: "Working in ER is more fun than having fun." More later.
BACKGROUND - Wesley McFarland was born in Eddiceton, between Natchez and Brookhaven. He recalls wearing overalls that had so many patches in them that they hummed when he ran.
The family moved to Natchez. He graduated from high school there. He joined the Navy in 1942 and spent four years in service. When he was discharged, he enrolled at the University of Mississippi where he met Rosemary Rollins of Bay St. Louis. They married in 1948.
He had been accepted for medical school for the next year, so he took a job as a geophysicist with Western Geophysical Company (now Western). They lived in Florida, Laurel and Elk City, Okla. He was offered a contract by the company to go to Venezuela as a crew chief, but elected to go on to medical school at Ole Miss.
He finished his last two years at Tulane. By then, they had 3 children and no money. Thank goodness he went to MidState Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Tenn., for his internship, because it provided an apartment across the street from the hospital and gave him and his family their meals in the hospital cafeteria. They had their fourth child during that period.
Internship completed, they moved to Bay St. Louis where he went into general practice. There was only an old, small hospital.
In 1956, he guilt an office with an integrated room (during a period when segregation was practiced). Black babies were delivered by a wonderful midwife, Mrs. Labat. When the elderly black woman had trouble with a patient, she would call Dr. McFarland and he would go to what was usually a small shack without power or running water.