John Franklin McDonough, Jr.(Plainview)

Funeral services for John Franklin McDonough Jr., 98, of Plainview will be held 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2022, at Northwest Church of Christ with grandsons John Franklin McDonough III and Andrew Francis officiating. Other grandsons will serve as pallbearers. Burial with military honors will follow in Plainview Memorial Park under the care of Kornerstone Funeral Directors. A visitation will be held 6-8 p.m. Tuesday Jan. 11, 2022, at the funeral home. He died Friday night at Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo following a brief illness. A lifelong resident of Hale County, he was born on the family farm 8 miles north of Petersburg on Dec. 16, 1923, to John F. and Minnie Lee Saunders McDonough, the third child and oldest son in a family that included three brothers and three sisters. His public-school education included grades 1-3 in Lakeside School, a rural school six miles north of Petersburg, grade 4 at Ellen School which was four miles east of Happy Union, and the rest at Petersburg, graduating in 1942. Following high school graduation, he enrolled at Lippert’s Business College in Plainview and was able to continue his studies from June 1942 until February 1943 when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. He spent World War II in the European Theater, serving as a corporal in headquarters battery of the 554th Anti-Aircraft Battalion. After the war, Mr. McDonough began helping his father in the home construction business in Plainview, and continued working as a home builder, remodeler and building contractor for more than 60 years, often with his two brothers and later with two sons. On Aug. 8, 1948, he married Barbara May Mickey of Plainview. They were married 68 years before her death March 7, 2017. Both were charter members of 11th and Amarillo Church of Christ (now Northwest Church of Christ) in Plainview. He was an active Boy Scout leader for more than a decade, starting as Cubmaster for Pack 54 at Highland School, assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 221, committeeman for Pack 256 at Lakeside School, two terms as Haynes District commissioner and in 1969 was presented the Silver Beaver Award, the highest honor for an adult leader on the council level. In 1970-71, as president of Plainview Band Parents Association, he had to organize the group’s annual carnival after booths and other materials were largely destroyed in the 1970 tornado. He helped build props and was a chaperon in 1969 when the Plainview High Band and Choir performed at the Cotton Bowl during a Dallas Cowboys-Washington Redskins game. He joined REACT, a volunteer citizens band radio group, in 1970, and spent the next 15 years as a volunteer storm spotter. He was storm captain April 15, 1973, when fellow REACT volunteer David Bryant suffered fatal injuries while following the advance of a large tornado that struck the Westridge Addition before tearing across the western edge of Plainview. Active in the Church of Christ, he was a member of the original building committee for 11th and Amarillo Church of Christ, built in 1955. In civic work, he devoted countless hours serving on city boards and commissions, including as chairman of the Community Improvement Commission, member of the Neighborhood Improvement Commission, and member of the Building Code Board of Appeals. In October 2014, he participated in the South Plains Honor Flight. Since 1972, he has lovingly and diligently tended and groomed a farm in Floyd County’s Sandhill community that his wife’s grandparents homesteaded in 1890 and they acquired following the deaths of her parents. Survivors include sons Mike and Cornelia McDonough of Plainview, Doug and Brenda McDonough of Plainview and Mitchell and Veronica McDonough of Hereford; daughters Marilyn and Terry Vieregge of Lubbock and Michelle and Barry Francis of Silverton; a brother, E.E. (Earle) and Faye McDonough of Plainview; grandchildren Kyra and Chris Johnson of Keller, Randi and Jonathan Truelock of Brownfield, John Franklin III and Kelly McDonough of Pampa, Amanda Vieregge of Lubbock, Quentin Vieregge of Rice Lake, Wisc., Jared and Chantell Francis of Silverton, Nathan and Brenna Francis of Dallas, Andrew and Marka Francis of Halfway, Caleb and Chelsea Francis of Haslet, Jacob and Erika Francis of Canyon, Meredith and Brook Hayes of Canyon and Zachary McDonough of Plainview; 28 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.