Stephanie Macdonald

MACDONALD, L. Stephanie It is with great sadness that Jaeden, Lylah, Winter and Maya announce the passing of their beloved GiGi, Leila "Stephanie" MacDonald on May 27, 2020. Stephanie passed away with dignity at home with two of her daughters by her side. As well as her cherished great grandchildren, Stephanie was loved by her children Brenda, Bruce (deceased), Allyson and Rebecca and her grandchildren Jennifer, Ashley and Nikki-Rae. Stephanie was born April 20, 1930 and raised in Charlottetown, PEI, the fourth child of the Hon. W. J. "Billie Archie" and Agnes MacDonald. She is survived by her brothers Lewis and Vernon and predeceased by brothers Doug and Billie and sisters Inez and Joan. Stephanie attended the Model School and finished grades 9 and 10 at the Rustico Convent School. It was at the convent school that her life-long belief in paving her own road started. With two other classmates, she led a strike in protest of student treatment. In 1943, at the age of 13, Stephanie completed the Provincial Entrance Exams and entered Prince of Wales College. While at PWC she was a star basketball player at the soaring height of 5’2”! In 1948 she was the first woman to graduate the pre-med course. In 1948 Stephanie completed a one-year laboratory technology course in Montreal. In her later years many stories were shared of that year in Montreal where she lived in a co-ed residence with other Islanders under the somewhat less than watchful care of residence chaperones. Stephanie returned to PEI and graduated from St Dunstan’s University in 1951, one of only five women in her graduating class. Stephanie was very proud of the work she did in wide-ranging fields. After her initial job working for the Red Cross transfusion service she worked in Halifax in a research laboratory where the original ground-breaking work was done using radio isotopes and nuclear scanners to detect thyroid cancer. In 1952 Stephanie was working in Winnipeg during the polio epidemic. Since the outbreak of COVID 19 her stories of this time are so much more real. Quite aside from the risks they took working with the polio patients, she often spent hours sitting with dying patients because their families were not allowed to be with them for bio-security reasons. Stephanie married Pius "Raymond" MacDonald in 1953 and traveled to Germany when Ray, as a member of the Canadian Army, was stationed there. While in Germany she enjoyed her time organizing playground activities for children which she did at the request of the Canadian Army Base. Having lived the last 20 years of her life with time split between Ontario and PEI Stephanie leaves a network of friends both old and new who will miss her love of conversation and unique approach to life. She had a life-long love of learning and at 75 was taking carpentry courses at Lee Valley and at 87 she even tackled axe throwing. A funeral service will be held on PEI at a future date when family is able to travel to be there together and celebrate her legacy. Memories or a message of condolence can be sent to the family at [email protected]