Family and friends will gather Saturday to mourn and honor Scott MacDonald, a gifted mason and longtime owner of Creative Masonry and Design, who died June 10 when he was crushed by granite at a job site in Freeport. He was 59.

Mr. MacDonald had owned the Limington company for more than 30 years. Last fall, he was hired to work for Coastal Landscape, Construction and Snow Services of Cumberland to help grow its hardscape business.

Mr. MacDonald was part of a three-man crew that was working on the steps of a shopping plaza at 136-140 Main St. in Freeport last week when he was crushed by granite steps that were being held up by a forklift.

“When anyone looses someone in their family, it hits hard,” said his mother, Harriet MacDonald, of Wittmann, Arizona. “It’s heartbreaking knowing how he died.”

Mr. MacDonald was remembered by his family this week as artistic, hardworking, warm and kind. His sister Jill O’Connor of Northwood, New Hampshire, spoke about his passion for work as a mason. She recalled the outdoor study area he designed and built at Bates College. He also did masonry work at Bowdoin College and for the city of Boston. O’Connor said her brother had an eye for designing beautiful mosaics, fireplaces and chimneys. She said his work was art.

“He loved working with this hands,” his sister said. “He loved the feel of stone and how to take something so big and awkward and create something so beautiful and lasting. He loved when he could do something for family and friends. He put his whole heart into it.”

Mr. MacDonald grew up Cape Elizabeth, the middle child and only son of five children. He graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School in 1972 and attended the University of Maine at Orono.

O’Connor described her older and very protective brother Wednesday as a large man, 6 feet, 5 inches tall, with big hands and a bigger heart. She said when their father, W.M. MacDonald, died in 1991, he took on a role as their protector.

“The hardest thing about loosing him was that we are all so close,” his sister said. “It will be hard not having him here. He was very protective of his sisters. … I don’t have that go-to person anymore. If I needed to do something mechanical or fix something, I would always call him and he talked me through it. He was a very good man.”

He had a passion for hunting and fishing. He hunted often in the Ossippee and Conway, New Hampshire, area. His sister said he enjoyed hunting deer.

“He has trophy heads on a wall in his man cave, like a lot of them,” O’Connor said. “He was very proud of them.”

Mr. MacDonald, of Limington, is survived by his wife, Abigail MacDonald, and her three children. He also leaves his mother and sisters, O’Connor, Cheryl Clark, Alana MacDonald and Lynne MacDonald.

Mr. MacDonald’s services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Dolby & Dorr Funeral Chapel, 76 State St. in Gorham.

Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at:

mcreamer@pressherald.com