Will MacDonald3.1.1926 — 29.6.1998 My sense of the right and wrong is to leave our children with the legacy of those who have come before them and as time rolls forward that they have a continuing pride in accomplishment and an appreciation of those who will follow.
Will Macdonald, from final message sent to friends by his wife Karen. I first met Will MacDonald in 1987. 1 was in charge of assistants and logistics for the first practitioner training of the NIP Training Programme run by Eric Robbie and Ian McDermott. I had the good fortune to get to know all the trainers personally and each of them were was skilled and very friendly. The trainers were Todd Epstein, Chris Hall and Will MacDonald. Will was the third to train and at first he seemed less impactful than the others who spoke with authority about what they had developed. This quickly changed as we came to realise a different approach was being used. We were comfortably exploring with Will, being led to new discoveries easily almost too easily to appreciate the skill required to achieve this. It was clear that Will enjoyed learning and sharing with us and cared little for recognition as expert or magician. He was there, as now, just Will. Will with the laugh and the smile and the stories and the easy guiding, Let’s see and off he’d go with his subject and the group exploring and changing. When NLP Training Programme ceased functioning, I asked Will to train for Sensory Systems at our first residential at Higham Hall in 1990. For eight years we trained together there and in other trainings in London, Glasgow and for Richard Bandler in Australia and California, spending up to two months a year working and playing together. My only cribbage partner, he had the same smile and glint in his eye after winning or losing as he had with a new client or new group. He’d shuffle the cards, smile say ‘Right" in a long, deep drawl and deal. Many people could testify to his skill and generous kindness. Many of those he helped he did so through their being demonstration subjects for a technique. I loved Will teaching the techniques on my training because he demonstrated HOW TO USE THEM. Not just how to, GET THEM TO WORK. He was never technique plus NLP pre-suppositions always an integrated craftsman at work. It was his craftsmanship that inspired most. As a craftsman he wove stories into his work much like Milton Erickson. Not as shallow metaphors, but rich, life experience that stimulated appropriate associations and primed his subject to put together new learnings more easily. He brought to every situation an incredible wealth of experience. He was at various times a journalist, TV producer, film maker, cowboy, community leader, taxi driver (in New York!), sailor - to name a few of his many occupations. He lived on both east and west coasts of America and in the south west where he developed a lifelong interest in native peoples. He raised two separate families and in March this year he and his wife Karen attended the wedding of his daughter, together with his previous wives and all his children. The first total MacDonald clan gathering - and a great time. An interest in therapy and personal change through the 1970s resulted in him finding a copy of ‘The Structure of Magic’ by Bandler and Grinder. He said be connected immediately and wanted more. He was living in New Mexico and travelled to California for training with Bandler and Grinder. He immersed himself in what was only just becoming NLP. He developed a close friendship with Richard Bandler. He moved to Seattle and established NLP North West. He was now a certified trainer of NLP. He brought people to train in Seattle, including Richard, keen to make more NLP available. When Richard was arrested and put in jail, (before being acquitted), Will travelled from Seattle so that he could visit every day. His loyalty was appreciated by all who met him. Last year when Richard was ill, it was Will he called on to run his personal change workshop. Will loved to take things and find out what they did. NLP was a great toy for him. He loved to play with it and to see what else it could do and how it could be extended. He liked to fix things and make things work better. So people, boats, instruments all benefited from NLP and NLP from his exploring and testing. He extended the use of Bandler’s sub-modality model and created many new techniques. His hook "An Insider’s Guide to Sub-modalities" is a small part of his work in this area. He didn't just extend other people’s ideas, was always testing his own experience and experimenting. He did pioneering work with kinaesthetic processes, developed integration techniques for polarities and much more. In his last few months he put together a tape set for "Motion sickness", which he had played with for a while, but hadn’t the time to put all his research together. Throughout his experience with cancer Will, supported and assisted by his wife and partner Karen, has continued to explore and learn. Karen has been incredible in her stamina, caring and loving. I personally have gained from sharing a little of this period with them. They have warmly received visitors from the UK, myself, Kate Watson and Steve Howard. Many others have been in contact, by phone, fax and E-mail. On top of family visits and other friends, it has been positive challenge to keep up with it all. I have known Karen since 1992, when I met her while I was training for Will in Seattle. I have witnessed their love blossom and grow, delighted in the joy it has brought both of them. I have known Will as a friend, a pupil, a teacher, a colleague and co-modeller. When, after a lifetime smoking and deciding to stop, he set about modelling in detail all the patterns the smoking was active in. His way of breathing, reflecting, punctuating ideas were all involved. We both learned - Will used it successfully and made further adjustments from which I learned even more. Through the last six months Will has continued to teach me and to co-model with me. The subject being quality of life, staying positive without denial - by staying in the moment - making the most of every challenge. His recovery from having a lung removed amazed doctors and his breathing and lung capacity continued improving way beyond what was predicted. It was not possible to do much about the secondary tumours directly, but Will rose to the challenge of identifying and rectify their disruptive effects. He will he missed by many people in the UK and across the world. In the UK he had long friendships with Steve Howard, Reg Connolly, Jane Mathison, Eric Robbie; long friendships and co-working with David McNorton, Kate Watson, Chris Norris, Shaun Moran; and students who gave of themselves to assist his training and continue as friends, especially Edna O’Byrne and Susanne. And so a final word from me and then the second part of his final E-mail sent to some of his friends and family by Karen. And so finally for now I say to you, my friend Will Your company will be missed You are and will forever be with us, All of us you hove so skilfully lovingly, Willingly, generously, caringly and Joyfully touched Story told A smile lingers. My love for you continues
and from Will: I have done all that I can do. Now it’s up to you to take what you’ve learned and pass it on in your own way.
Will MacDonald -. from final message. © 1998 John McWhirter - this article first appeared in the Autumn 1998 edition of Rapport. | 
