Lorraine Chevalier McDonald was born in Sayreville, NJ on April 23, 1920 to Mary and Albert Chevalier. She was familiarly known to her family and friends as “Chevie”. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1940 and was hired on to the executive training program at RH Macy. In 1942 she resigned to join the W.A.V.E.S. and was in the first class of midshipmen training at Smith College. Commissioned an Ensign in January 1943, she served as a Communications Officer at the Port Director New York during World War II. She married Robert McDonald in 1944 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City and, in 1970 they moved their family from Larchmont, NY to Dallas, TX when Robert was made President of Anderson Clayton Foods. Her sixty years of active volunteer work includes Campfire Girls, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, East Dallas Community School, Children’s Medical Center and over 20 years at Presbyterian Hospital. A communicant at St. Monica Catholic Church, she was a volunteer there for several years in the business office.
She served on the Dallas Municipal Library Board and was president of the Mayflower Club, a north Dallas neighborhood organization. She was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Bay Head NJ Yacht Club, Larchmont NY Yacht Club and First Friday Club of Dallas.
She was predeceased by her husband Robert who died in 2003. She is survived by two daughters and two sons and their families: Mary McDonald Zirkle and husband Douglas; Charles Toebe McDonald and Lisa Coleman; Dr. Robert C. McDonald and wife Dr. Mary N. Walsh; and Sally McDonald Berven and husband Jeffrey. Also the following grandchildren: Kristin Zirkle, Aliy Zirkle, Rachel McDonald, Emily McDonald, Luke McDonald, Gillin McDonald, Hanna McDonald, Joseph Berven and Robert Berven and three great grandchildren Michael McDonald, Samuel Crowe and Callie Kapiris.
The family will receive friends on Tuesday, December 13, 2016 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 on Wednesday, December 14, 2016 at St. Monica Catholic Church. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made in her name to St. Monica School Endowment Trust or Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas.
