Barbara Josephine Macdonald

Barbara Josephine MacDonald

1921 – 2017

Well before 9/11, the internet, walking on the moon, JFK’s assassination, television, World War II and the Great Depression, a lady of hardy stock arrived to an Italian-Irish family in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Always a touch of contradiction, she loved to ice skate, but always faired better swinging at a softball. Serving as a Corporal in the Women’s Army Corp in World War II, she was obliged to the WAC manual’s charge: “”Your Job: To Replace Men . . . Be Ready To Take Over.” While on furlough, she dated a recovering D-Day beach survivor, Sergeant Howard MacDonald. They had met as teenagers in a boarding house in Hampton Beach. It wasn’t long before another furlough found them married and honeymooning in Maine. Post WAC, Barbara indulged her appetite for fashion and color at the John Robert Powers School of Modeling, but in contrast she played with the “Flashy Ten” softball team. Her prizewinning flower arrangements wowed the women’s garden club and her ability to crush a golf ball was the envy of all the men at the Nashawtuc Country Club. In spite of suffering through the depression and war, a happy Massachusetts life took form. Though no strangers to pain, Barbara and Howard suffered painful losses from an Rh incompatibility. They found one miracle in a bright and curious daughter, Barbara Jane. After years of honing her golf skills, socializing in bridge club and becoming an expert cook, Barbara senior followed her daughter to Arizona. There she became a fan of the Suns and Diamondbacks, square-danced and doted on Lhasa Apsos, all while helping raise her 3 grandchildren. Suffering mastectomies, skin cancer and lung scares, she survived to brag about her age, enjoyed four generation Thanksgiving dinners and giggled at Snapchat filters with her great grandchildren. At age 96, Barbara passed away on December 1st, just 4 years shy of 100.