MR. IRA MACDONALD passed away peacefully on June 30, 2008 at the Raymond General Hospital. He was a great dad and grandpa and will be dearly missed by all who knew him. Ira was born in Stellarton, Nova Scotia on February 7, 1929. He and his 12 siblings were raised during the great depression. In his younger years, Ira traveled extensively throughout the world as a merchant sailor. While in his twenties he worked on many major construction projects in Western Canada such as the Hart Highway, the Hudson Hope and Mica Hydro Dams. While employed by the Dominion Bridge Company, he worked on many bridge installations in the greater Vancouver area before being transferred to the Mackenzie Pipeline/ Alaska Highway upgrade project. It was this project that brought him to Dawson Creek where he first took to the air and eventually owned and operated the Safari Air Charter Company from 1953 to 1969. Flying was Ira’s greatest passion; if it had wings on it, he knew what to do with it and made it look like poetry in motion. Despite the fact that Ira didn’t receive formal training, he was extremely knowledgeable and well read in many fields. There’s a saying that anyone’s life has the makings of a great novel. If mere words could capture the essence of one’s life, Ira’s would be such a novel. Ira is survived by his family who would like to express their heartfelt thanks to the staff and volunteers at the Raymond General Hospital (LTC), the Wild Rose and the Green Acres Foundation; you folks are what make it flow. At Ira’s request, there will be a private family service at a later date. In Lieu of flowers, any who wish to do so may make a donation in Ira’s name to www.navigators.com or www.maf.org .