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Former county judge dies


Former Wise County judge L.B. McDonald of Bridgeport is remembered for being kind, fair and bringing calm to county government.

McDonald, 84, served as county judge from 1991 to 2002. He died Monday in Bridgeport.

Former sheriff Phil Ryan, whose terms almost mirrored McDonald’s, said they worked well together, and McDonald was helpful to him when he served as sheriff.

“He was the easiest going old boy you would ever be around. Real calm and a lot smarter than he let on,” Ryan said. “He treated everyone with respect and dignity. You can’t say enough good about L.B.”

Former Precinct 4 commissioner Paul Wood echoed those sentiments, saying McDonald was calm and “never had his feelings hurt.”

“He was always fair to hear everybody’s side, fairer than I thought he needed to be sometimes,” Wood said. “His most endearing quality was that he was able to get along with just about anybody.

“If you couldn’t get along with L.B., you probably had a personality disorder.”

Wood said he and McDonald were in office together “in that period where Wise County was going from you had to have a ‘D’ by your name to you had to have an ‘R’ by your name to get elected,” referencing the county’s partisan shift from primarly Democratic to Republican.

County Treasurer Katherine Hudson took office near the end of McDonald’s county career and said he was easy to get along with and he believed in working for the good of the county, not just for the good of himself.

“There’s probably not a better person around than what L.B. McDonald was,” she said. “He would work with you, disagree with you but still be your friend when it was over.”

Hudson also said McDonald was a bit of a jokester but was always serious when he needed to be.

Ryan recalled attending various functions with McDonald as elected officials, and they often sat by each other during political forums. In recent years, Ryan said if he visited McDonald at the nursing home, they talked about old times.

“His best contribution was just showing how a good Christian government employee ought to act,” Ryan said. “We never had a cross word.

“I had too much respect for him to ever get mad at him.”

Graveside service for McDonald is 10 a.m. Thursday at Eastside Cemetery in Bridgeport. Visitation is 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Hudson & Torres Family Funeral Home in Bridgeport.

To read McDonald’s obituary, go to our obituaries page at wcmessenger.com/articles/l-b-mcdonald.

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