Donald F. MacLaren

CHELMSFORD — Donald F. MacLaren, age 75, a longtime Tewksbury businessman and Hall of Fame driver, died Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2011 at Lowell General Hospital, following a brief illness. He was the fiance of Lorraine Reiss-Campbell, with whom he had planned a spring wedding.

He was born in Tewksbury, May 19, 1935, a son of the late George and Myrtle (Flint) MacLaren. He lived in Tewksbury for most of his life. During the Korean War, he enlisted into the U.S. Army. He was a member of the Tewksbury-Wilmington Elks Lodge 2070, American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. He founded and continued to operate 5 D's Welding Company in Tewksbury. Don's passion was stock cars, specifically the super modified class stock car. He built and drove dozens of them during his long history of racing. He earned numerous titles and championships during his racing career, highlighted by his induction into the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2002.

He is survived by four children, Donald W. MacLaren and his wife Linda (Kirkland) of Tewksbury, Douglas MacLaren and his wife Gisele (Boucher) of Dracut, Daren MacLaren and his wife Ellen (Herlihy) of Londonderry, N.H., Bonnie Capuano and her husband Michael of Tewksbury; nine grandchildren, Donald R. MacLaren and Jennifer Kelley both of Tewksbury, Jonathan MacLaren and Renee MacLaren both of Dracut, Kayla MacLaren of Londonderry, N.H., Michael Capuano of Dracut, Kimberly Capuano, USAF, currently stationed in Augusta, Ga., Kerri Capuano of Tewksbury, and Adam Silva of Townsend; two great-grandchildren, Quentin and Aidan; three sisters, Beverly Beckwith of Durham, Maine, Priscilla Blumenstock of Dalton Gardens, Idaho, and Louise Dlugolenski of Apopka, Fla.; and numerous nieces, nephews, and racing friends, both locally and across the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. He was also father of the late Dennis MacLaren; and brother of the late Philip, Lloyd, George, Willa Wolcott, and Pauline McClendon.