Don McFarland celebrates his 90th birthday

WARWICK — This Christmas Day was even more important for the McFarland clan, about 50 of whom traveled to Warwick from as far away as Dallas, Texas, and Denver, Colorado to celebrate the 90th birthday of Don McFarland.
After attending a Christmas service at Christ Episcopal Church on South St., they gathered for family photographs with McFarland and his brother Warren, age 92.
The next day, many of the family members took advantage of their long distance travel to visit New York City.
"Boy, was it crowded," said McFarland. "It took us 20 minutes just to cross the street by Radio City."
Born on Dec. 25, 1926, McFarland is a member of the seventh generation out of eleven generations of Burts and McFarlands living in Warwick. And he lives on the original Burt farm.
McFarland comes from a family of farmers but his 32-year career was as a research engineer for NASA.
The historic Burt farmhouse on Galloway Road, just off Route 17A near Forester Avenue, dates from the year 1760. And the people currently living in that same house, Donald McFarland and his daughter Carol, are direct descendants of Daniel Burt and part of generations of early Warwick settlers.
Although the McFarlands can trace their ancestry back to Scotland and Ireland, Daniel Burt came to Warwick from Connecticut. He settled this area when it was a wilderness inhabited mostly by Native Americans.
Don McFarland is a descendant of Burt on his mother and grandmother's side of the family.
Daniel Burt, by the way, also built the "Shingle House," which is the oldest building in the Village of Warwick and currently owned by the Historical Society of the Town of Warwick.
Don McFarland, a Navy veteran, and Warren McFarland, an Army veteran, are both active members of American Legion Post 214.
- Roger Gavan