Mack Mackinder “always wanted to be doing something,” said Steve Sande, his son-in-law, and he always was.
Mackinder, who died June 24, just 10 days after his 94th birthday, was a printer, pilot, travel agent and even a boxer when he was a kid.
“He got a kick out of life,” Sande said.
Mackinder “was absolutely smitten” with Charles Lindbergh, so he learned to fly about 1930. That led to his weekend job of flying small planes from the plant where they were made in Wichita to Denver, and even to Mexico and Alaska, said his daughter, Barbara Sande.
For 40 years, until 1978, he was supervisor of the school press for Denver Public Schools, his daughter said. The school press printed all kinds of materials used by teachers and students in the school system.
“He was a master printer, good at what he did,” said longtime friend Ed Harshbarger, a retired printer. Mackinder had a more than 70-year membership in the International Typographical Union, Harshbarger said.
“But he wasn’t the ‘I’ type of guy,” he said. “He never tried to tell you how important he was.”
“He was known for his cheerfulness, his smile and the way he treated people,” said his daughter. “He was a kind, polite person.”
Clyde H. Mackinder was born in a log cabin near Cody, Wyo., on June 14, 1914. The family, which included his parents, Henry and Cora Mackinder, and sister, Thelma Mackinder Anderson, moved to Joplin, Mo., when the kids were small. They decided to move to Seattle, but their car broke down in Denver, so that’s where they settled.
Mackinder didn’t graduate from high school but later earned his GED. For a time he was a Golden Gloves boxer; he won a case of soda one time because he won a fight with a knockout that took “about 20 seconds,” said his daughter.
Mackinder had three children with his first wife, Margaret Hackett. Two preceded him in death. His son, Jack Mackinder, lives in California. Mackinder and his first wife divorced, and in 1949 he married Marion “Bette” Hakkarinen. They eloped to Lovelock, Nev., said Barbara Sande, their only child. Marion Mackinder died in 2007.
After his printing and flying careers, Mackinder and his wife worked as travel agents for 12 years. He celebrated his 93rd birthday in Monte Carlo. Mackinder loved to play video poker and often went to Black Hawk and Nevada to gamble.
In addition to his daughter and son, Mackinder is survived by three grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
