Minnie McDonald: A worker for life

COEUR d'ALENE - Minnie McDonald turns 90 on Sept. 15.

But that doesn't spell the end of her 43-year career at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Coeur d'Alene, ringing up sales behind the counter.

She loves to work.

There's plenty of time left for gardening and watching "The Bold and the Beautiful" and "The Young and the Restless" once she's off the clock.

"There are so many people who are customers that I've taken care of for years," McDonald said Tuesday. "And I enjoy the girls I work with."

"We have generations of families who patronize our stores," said Barb Smalley, St. Vincent de Paul of North Idaho's development director. "Many come in and make a point to see and say hi to Minnie."

She was a little nervous on her first day behind the counter in 1972.

"Well, I'd never done anything like that before," McDonald said. "Way back, I was always really bashful and quiet."

But the love for work was stronger and kept her going.

She originally is from Ekalaka, Mont., not far from where the state lines of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota meet.

She lived in Ekalaka until she was 18 and graduated from high school in 1944.

She moved to Miles City, Mont., to attend telegrapher school and then worked for the Milwaukee Road railroad.

She was a telegraph operator during World War II.

"That's when they had the troops go on trains," she said.

She worked at telegraph stations north of Billings in towns like Ryegate and Lavina.

In 1946, she met and married her late husband, Jacob Aaron McDonald.

After working for a time on a Montana ranch, they moved to Kellogg so he could work underground at the bustling Bunker Hill Mine.

He stayed at the mine for more than 30 years, and then died of lung cancer in 1985.

For most of those years before the mine closed, they lived in Medimont.

Soon the call of work and the need to pay bills brought her back to what she loves - being employed.

She got a job as a housekeeper in Coeur d'Alene, where she spent nine years.

One day when she was shopping at the thrift store, an employee recommended she apply for a job. She did, and the rest is history.

For 32 of the 43 years she has been at the store, she also worked as a nurse's aide.

But she quit working as a nurse's aide after it became too much about entering data into computers and too little about patient care.

She was just hitting her stride at the thrift store when she needed heart surgery at age 88. Since then, she had to cut back on her hours.

She currently puts in just less than 30 hours per week. She said it's like being on vacation all the time.

Smalley said they'll take what they can get, as McDonald is an inspiration to many.

"I guess many years back, when her husband died, she took on three different jobs to pay for all of his medical expenses," Smalley said. "What character!"

Look for McDonald at the third annual St. Vinny's Fashion Show at the Coeur d'Alene Resort on Oct. 19.

"Minnie will again walk the runway," Smalley said.