In Memoriam: Gene McDougall
Remembering longtime Mensa member Gene McDougall, who passed away February 18, 2013
Those who were in the Chicago group in the late 80s or early 90s may remember Gene's writings in the ChiMe, particularly his "Ask Uncle Randy" column. Gene was ill for a time before he died, and he wrote his own obituary.
Gene McDougall, 84, Arlington Heights resident since 1970, Korean War veteran, University of Minnesota alumnus, retired A. C. Nielsen Company executive, Mensan, author, tennis player, animal lover and fun-loving iconoclast, died in his sleep on February 18, 2013 at his home, thereby avoiding the unpleasant end stages of Parkinson's Disease.
Born November 24, 1928 in Chisholm, Minnesota to Gerald and Winnifred McDougall, he was the younger of two children. His brother, Jerry, died in 1981. Gene's beloved parents also preceded him in death. And there was the love of his life, Gerne, the adorable little miniature Dachshund who brightened his life for nine beautiful years.
Gene is survived by Dora, his wife of 48 years, and Theodora Turula, his soulmate for the last 25 years of his life.
His was proudest, NOT of his Mensa membership, nor of his position as a Vice-President of the A. C. Nielsen Company, the world's largest market research company, for which he worked 31 years. Not even leading his Baudette High School basketball team to a 43-38 victory over International Falls, a school with six times Baudette's enrollment could measure up to the pride he felt in reuniting a baby duckling with its mother and seven siblings. The group had hopped single file over a curb, but the one straggler, try as it might, just could not jump that high. Rather than see the little fellow get left behind, Gene stopped his car, got out and lifted it over the curb, whereupon it happily raced to rejoin its family. Do not mourn Gene's death, for as an atheist, he had always known that he would spend eternity where there is no pain, sorrow, itching, or flossing.
No flowers, please. If you feel the need to give, and you care about your fellow man, consider giving to the anti-republican cause of your choice. Or, as an alternative, support his favorite game, tennis, by contributing to the USTA’s National Junior Tennis and Learning Program in Chicago through the Chicago Tennis Patrons.
In accordance with his wishes, no formal memorial service will be held. His ashes will be interred at Punch Bowl, the national military cemetery in Hawaii.
Gene McDougall and Theodora Turula
