David Bruce MacKay

On May 1,1944 in Yonkers, New York, David Bruce MacKay was born to Katherine Dorothy Woehr, a school teacher, and Norman Alexander MacKay, a Buick salesman, emerging a month early as he was eager to get started on life. Loved much, but not indulged as an only child, David succeeded in school and was taught to play the trumpet, practicing faithfully every day to the delight of neighbors in their apartment building. Later on, he joined a Catholic drum and bugle corps as being Episcopalian was close enough. He enjoyed teasing his parents, buying raspberry jam with seeds which irritated his father’s dentures and he liked to cook huge breakfasts on Saturdays. Hard work became a part of his early life as he delivered newspapers to a large route in Yonkers on his bicycle. In high school, he worked part time at the local “A and P Grocery” and saved his money. He had the honor of being selected as the winner of an essay contest, the prize being an airplane trip to London with an opportunity to meet the mayor, among other things. During the summers in high school, his parents sent him to work on farms in upstate New York to keep him off the streets, where he learned to get up early to milk cows and heft bales of hay, being lucky to have meat for dinner once a week. During one winter, he helped make maple syrup, using horses to collect sap, and cooking it down in huge iron pots over a fire. David called his dad “Norman” as his mother did, but Norman did not expect David to go to college. David only applied to one school, Cornell University, but was accepted with a full scholarship. He intended to be a farmer, but allergies led him into Agricultural Economics. After Cornell, David entered a doctoral program at Northwestern University in Marketing. During his graduate studies, he was active in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. About this time, he had a sort of vision that he would one day marry a girl from California. That vision came true when he met Carole Bartlett, from Lafayette, California, on a “blind” date. Carole, a nursing student in Chicago, was “fixed up” with David. All she knew about him was that he was tall (a requirement), and that he attended a Bible Study. After three months of dating, David proposed as Carole lay in a hospital bed with mononucleosis. The “mistake of ‘68” (i.e., marriage) occurred a year later. David has often told his friends that Carole was his “trial spouse”. Carole and David just celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary last week. David started his first full time job as an assistant professor at the Kelley School at Indiana University in January of 1971. Eight months later, Debbie was born and Jonny, two years later. David adapted well at IU as he gained experience in teaching and research. He was known as a teacher with high expectations, and he loved research, publishing often in journals of other disciplines, such as mathematical psychology. At one time, he was considered to be part of both the psychology and geography departments in addition to marketing. To bridge the pay gap over the summers, he received National Science Foundation grants on a regular basis. He developed software called “Proscal” along with his colleague, Jerry Zinnes, a tool using multidimensional scaling. David was a family man who provided care and guidance not only for his two children, Debbie and Jon, but for five foster girls-three from Nigeria and two from Uganda. Attendance at church was a top priority and he expected his children to work hard. David was a charter member of Christ Community Church, serving as elder and as an adult Sunday School teacher. He was particularly interested in topics of Christian apologetics, but he read his Bible daily. Before retirement, he joined an IU coffee group centered around IU emeritus business professor, George Smerk, and had already been a part of a weekly beer group on Fridays for several years. Friendships in these groups blossomed and deepened over the years. David’s favorite hobby was reading. He appreciated good writing, alternating between fiction and non-fiction, but he was especially fond of mysteries. He also read many scholarly works about the Bible and Christian topics. Early in the 1990’s, David and Carole bought 53 acres of woods in Brown County, where they eventually erected a second home with a large pond. For several years, David produced maple syrup from the sugar maples there, and he and Carole built trails all over the property. It was in this beautiful setting that David took his last breath. David’s person, love, kindness, generosity, and very quick wit will be sadly missed by his wife, Carole, daughter, Deborah MacKay from Silver Spring, MD, foster daughters Mary Obaka of San Diego, Rose Ibiama of Los Angeles, Elizabeth Schultz of Minneapolis, Mary Athieno of Indianapolis and Regina McCarty of Bedford. He was preceded in death by his parents and his son, Jon, who passed away at the age of 33 in 2005. A monetary gift in memory of David can be made to any one of the following: Chesterton House at Cornell University: https://chestertonhouse.org/give/ GRID organization in the USA for David Menseh::https://grid-nea.org/donate/donation-form-usa/ Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County: https://monroecountyhabitat.org/ways-to-give/

Tributes

David Bruce MacKay

May 1, 1944 - June 17, 2023