Our precious father, husband, grandpa, great grandpa, brother and friend, Joseph McDonough, was called home by his Savior Jesus Christ on 8/3/26 at the age of 97, and 26 days before his 98th birthday. Our dad was the third child of eight, and the first of 2 boys. He grew up on a farm in Fromberg, Montana with no running water and only an outhouse. He learned what hard work, sacrifice and responsibility looked like at a very young age. His 7 children grew up listening to his childhood farm stories and watching slide shows of his family as well as our own…it was a pastime favorite! He graduated from Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA. After graduating with a Chemical Engineering degree he enlisted in the Army Reserves and was sent to South Korea for 2 years. Upon being honorably discharged he moved to Southern California and worked at Aerojet General for 17 years. At a Catholic young adult gathering he met the love of his life, Phyllis. He and Phyllis had 7 children in 9 years. Due to a reduction in Defense funding and lost government contracts he was one of the last engineers to be laid off by Aerojet. In anticipation of this possibility, he got his real estate license and sold homes to support our family while waiting for another Engineering job. A year later he gained employment with China Lake Naval Weapons Center and moved his family to Ridgecrest in 1972. He worked as a Quality Assurance Engineer and was instrumental in the Sidewinder Missile production as well as other missiles. He retired after 25 years.

Living in Ridgecrest, we experienced the great joy of fellowship with friends and families being part of the All Faith Chapel while living on base and at St. Ann’s after moving off the military base and into town. We spent every summer going on great adventures and many a weekend headed to the beaches in Southern California. Dad would stand in the sand for hours with his shorts, blinding white legs and brown socks and shoes with his hand to his forehead scanning for his kids in the ocean riding waves and seeing them get tossed to the bottom of the ocean. We would load up our station wagon, oftentimes with grandma and a dog or 2, and towing a tent trailer have the most amazing adventures without EVER missing a Sunday Catholic mass. Other times we joined multiple families from our community on camp trips to Mammoth, Death Valley, etc. Our dad supported our amazing mom and her great ability hosting many gatherings and enjoyed the friendship, laughter and fellowship. It has been an honor to have his longtime friends visit him and our mom these past few years and relive memories. Our dad loved to tell jokes and laugh. He had an incredible work ethic, and he and mom had the most generous hearts helping family relatives and friends when in need. He would get a call in the middle of the night and off he and mom would go for a 2+ hour drive to help family or friends in need. He and mom truly lived the life of sacrifice, obedience and love pursuing faith in Jesus Christ. His legacy is a lifetime of love and sacrifice for his 7 children, 17 grandchildren, 12 great grandchildren with many more to come and so many friends and family. To love hard is to lose hard and we are heartbroken in our loss of this great man. We are honored to carry on your legacy Dad of a life well lived pursuing faith in Jesus Christ. We rejoice knowing you and Mom will forever be in unbroken fellowship with God dwelling in supreme joy praising Him all the day long!