Born: September 8, 1904
Died: November 14, 1983
Married: Marion Starks
Children: George A. Donaldson, Jr., Norma Young
George A. Donaldson, Sr. operated the George A. Donaldson Construction Company and the Trading Post, a general store with cabins and campsites in Lake Clear.
In the early 1930s, Donaldson was hired by John R. Dunlap to work on Markham Point in northern Upper Saranac Lake. In A Mountain View, author Lewis Spence, Dunlap's grandson, describes Donaldson as the strongest man he had ever seen. He worked on Dunlap's woods with a small crew, felling trees with axes and crosscut saws, and later building the first road to the point, three miles through virgin forest to Forest Home Road.
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 15, 1983
George A. Donaldson
SARANAC LAKE— George A. Donaldson, Sr., 79, of Lake Clear died yesterday at the General Hospital of Saranac Lake. He was born Sept. 8, 1904, in Lake Clear, the son of Charles and Cora (Pearson) Donaldson.
Mr. Donaldson has owned and operated the George A. Donaldson, Inc., Construction Company in Lake Clear since 1929. In 1948, he founded, the Trading Post in Lake Clear, a general store with cabins and campsites.
He was a 32nd degree Mason; a member of the Ancient Scottish Rite; Whiteface Mountain Lodge 789, Free and Accepted Masons of Saranac Lake; the Adirondack Commandry 82, Knights Templar, Oriental Temple of the Shrine in Troy and the Adirondack Shrine Club of Saranac Lake; and a member of the Lake Clear Presbyterian Church.
His wife, the former Marion Starks, died in 1974.
Survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Norma Young of Lake Clear, three brothers, Clifford, Sr., and Clarence both of Lake Clear, and Adrian of Gabriels; five sisters, Mrs. Violet McClean of Plattsburgh, Mrs Frances Strack of Saranac Lake Mrs. Ethel Powers and Mrs. Estella Prue, both of Phoenix, Ariz., and Mrs. Doris Moody of Lake Clear; five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Calling hours will be held from 7 to 9 p.m., today and 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m., tomorrow at the Fortune Funeral Home. A Masonic service will be held at 7:15 p.m., tomorrow at the funeral home.
The funeral service will be held Thursday at 11 a.m., at the Lake Clear Presbyterian Church with the Rev. Connie Dorn, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in St. John's Cemetery in Paul Smiths.
Memorial donations may be made to Whiteface Mountain Lodge, 1 Olive St., Saranac Lake.
