Dear friends,

 I hope this Holiday Season finds you and yours healthy and happy. My brothers and I so enjoyed seeing many of you at the reunion and reconnecting at our common home on the glistening shores. We want to take this moment to send our profound thanks and appreciation for your thoughtful responses to the news of Dad's taking his last trip. Each of you shared stories that that lit the flames of the K candles of

 Dad's character and brought light and warmth to our hearts at an important time. You reminded us that Dad's "fatherhood" extended to a vast group of sons and daughters growing up under his quiet and unique tutelage.  It is testament to the power of consistency and humility in impacting our youth to grow up with compassion and character.

 Keewaydin is and always will be our home, but it is the wisdom and values of our elders that binds us into the extraordinary family that we all are. And so, Russ lives on in our stories that formed us and form those whom we love.  My son's blue eyes light up when I tell him stores about his grandfather and the gift of your times with Dad are a gift to him as well.

 Keewaydin lives in wood smoke, waves lapping, frogs frogging, children laughing, mosquitoes whining, summer heat, the crack of a baseball bat, the thump of paddle and gunwhale... It laughs, it sighs, it weeps, it flies. It sings our song and somehow it seems to understand each of us. It is we and we it. All of the joys and challenges lived there are such a part of us that we can be sitting on the dock inhaling its scents anytime, anywhere, just by closing our eyes.

 Dad's was a life well lived. He handled the last years of his life with great dignity and his humor stayed smooth and dry like his beloved martini. From all the MacDonalds, and there are a few, we send our best wishes to each one of you. Sometime close to camp, we will say our goodbyes to Russ on the shores of Lake Dunmore.

 See you on the dock!

In the spirit of Keewaydin,

Kevin and the MacDonald Clan