Leola Armour Macdonald was a lovely, utterly charming woman and her marriage, family, and relationships with her friends were such rare, beautifully managed accomplishments that her loss will forever be deeply felt. She died July 17, peacefully in East End Hospice, Westhampton, New York, after complications from a hemorrhagic stroke. Born April 8, 1938, she was the daughter of Lester Armour, whose grandfather, Philip D. Armour, founded Armour and Co., and Leola Stanton of New Orleans, a great beauty herself. Leola had four siblings, all deceased: Elizabeth Hollins, Lester Armour, Stanton Armour, and Vernon Armour. She is survived by her husband of fifty-nine years, Robert S. Macdonald; her sons, Ian R. Macdonald and Colin S. Macdonald; a sister- in-law, Jean Armour; two brothers-in-law, Douglas Macdonald and Stanley Macdonald; and dozens of nieces and nephews and great- nieces and great-nephews. She went to the Bell School in Lake Forest, Illinois; Garrison Forest School in Garrison, Maryland; and Smith College, graduating in 1960. She was innately kind and nice, hackneyed words but in her case the real thing. She was modest and mild-mannered but had a strong will. She was brought up a Catholic and rejected Catholicism. She was brought up in a Republican stronghold and became a Democrat. A friend recalls: "In my youth Leola was always this gorgeous, kind of otherworldly person to me. Someone a bit ethereal. (I was just a Lake Forest Day School unsophisticate after all.) Then to find the real Leola in our older age - down to earth, hilarious, not intimidating, not Lake Forest, still beautiful of course in that ethereal way." She was never interested in society or the spotlight of any kind. She refused to go to a play if audience members were to be called up on stage. She chose an intimate family life, where she raised her two sons, Ian and Colin, with great love and a protective fierceness. She was married to Robert Macdonald in 1961. She wanted to live in New York City, so they moved from Chicago in 1961 and have lived ever since in the same brownstone, which she found, on East 94th St. She liked East Hampton and they bought a house there in 1980. The real estate agent, showing her houses in East Hampton, said, "well, I'll show you one more property but it's not really any good." "I disagree," she said to him after seeing the house. The house on Middle Lane was decorated by Keith Irving with additional splashes by her great friend Mark Hampton. It was her paradise: the green lawns, the giant Chinese elms, the beech tree, the copper maples, and her beloved flower gardens. Her friends came from the Bell School and Lake Forest, Garrison Forest and Smith, from New York City and East Hampton, and she was bound closely to them by her contagious sense of humor. A close friend said: "Leola was vibrant, funny, always interested in the other person, actually very funny and loyal." She was a member of the Maidstone Club. She loved helping run the Junior Activities Program. She and a friend were responsible for writing out the certificates of achievement for each camper at the end of the summer. There was one young boy who had achieved nothing. They finally came up with: " ______ had a superior summer!" She played sports well but her real passions were in New York City: movies, opera, ballet, music, and theater. She was an avid reader and one of the founding members of The Proust Group, a reading group devoted to the classics which is celebrating its fiftieth year in 2020-21. Before having children she worked as a volunteer for The Lighthouse for the Blind and taught Latin at the Cathedral School. Her two sons, Ian and Colin, both went to St. Bernard's School in Manhattan and she became a Trustee. Her grandson, Harry Macdonald, will be in the fourth grade at St. Bernard's this fall. She was on the Board of St. George's School in Rhode Island, where her son Ian went. Her granddaughter, Lee Armour Macdonald, seven years old, is named after Leola, who was "Lee" to her family and childhood friends. She adored Ian's wife, Caroline, and Colin's partner, Kara. The family is extremely close-knit thanks in good measure to Leola. The example she set was a lasting one: devotion to family pays off. She symbolized another truth: great beauty without character is squandered. She had character and beauty and they fit together perfectly. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Kanas Center for Hospice Care, 1 Meeting House Rd., Quiogue, NY 11978.
Published by New York Times on Jul. 21, 2020.