Leah Irwin MacNair O’Donnell, widow of John Burke O’Donnell, died at Raleigh, NC, Monday, February 6, 2012.
A graveside service will be held Thursday, February 9, at 2:30pm, O’Donnell-Williams Plot, at Oakwood Cemetery, where family will greet friends. An informal gathering follows in Haywood Hall at 3:30pm.
Mrs. O’Donnell was born December 27, 1909, in the home of her parents, William R. and Carolea Drake MacNair, of Tarboro and Warrenton, respectively, who married at Raleigh, then moved to Henderson, NC, where her father, a pharmacist, established Vance Drug Co.
Educated locally and at The Woman’s College at Greensboro, Leah MacNair wed banker and insurance broker, John O’Donnell, April 27, 1938, in the Capitol City. With exceptions for her husband’s overseas service (Major, US Army, WWII), during which Mrs. O’Donnell was appointed Chief Clerk, Vance Ration Board (later joining OPA/OPS), or during John Burke’s involvement with the family business in SC and GA, the couple made Raleigh their home. There, Mrs. John O’Donnell’s interest in community, particularly history and preservation, prompted her numerous activities with Mordecai Square Historic Park, Daughters of the Revolution, Colonial Dames, and the Junior League. A loyal churchwoman, she was briefly Parish Secretary, at Good Shepherd Episcopal, where her mother and father had married in 1904. Leah Irwin also volunteered with Altar Guild and ECW for over three quarters of a century. Professionally, Mrs. O’Donnell completed UNC’s Realtors Institute and became a Vice President of Bacon & Co.
She was a lady valued as a personal friend, confidant and advisor throughout her productive lifetime.
In addition to her mother, father and husband; her brother, Colin; niece, Catherine M. Midyette; nephews, B. Grimes Williams, Jr., John O’D. Williams, and John H. Wills, Jr.; predeceased Leah Irwin MacNair O’Donnell.
Survivors include her son, Raleigh lawyer John B. O’Donnell, Jr., granddaughter, Margarite Irwin Nash O’Donnell, of New York City; Irwin’s mother, Rachel of Raleigh; together with beloved nieces, nephews, and other relations.
Should memorials be contemplated, kindly consider The Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen, 125 Hillsborough St. or Haywood Hall & Gardens, 211 New Bern Place, both Raleigh, 27601.
Arrangements by Brown-Wynne, Saint Mary's St., Raleigh.
