‘gem' mourned

Jan. 5, 2007

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

PALMER - The promise of the new year was shaded by loss when a young wife, mother and lawyer lost her battle with cancer and died four minutes into 2007.

When Laura Christine Mitchell McDonald, 33, died in her Sutton home, in addition to her husband and 4-year-old daughter, she left behind a community of people who grieved the loss of a hometown girl who never stopped giving.

&#8220First and foremost, she was a fabulous mom,” said Rick Allen, a Palmer prosecutor who knew McDonald. &#8220The people of Alaska, and the people of the Valley, have lost a real gem.”

McDonald, who graduated from Palmer High School in 1991, welcomed Allen and his wife to her hometown when the Allens first moved to the Valley, he said. Their friendship grew, as McDonald's daughter and Allen's son were in the same play group.

&#8220When you saw her with her daughter, you could tell they had a very special interaction,” he said. &#8220She was just a fantastic mom.”

Rachel Gernat, who, like Allen, is an assistant district attorney, first met McDonald when the two women both worked at the Palmer district attorney's office. Gernat was commuting from Anchorage, and McDonald was working as an intern.

&#8220We became instant friends,” Gernat said. &#8220And our daughters became best friends. Everything she did was with so much love. Everything she did was for her daughter and husband. She loved them. She loved her job. And she loved Palmer.”

McDonald, fresh out of college, worked as a reporter at the Frontiersman, covering the city of Wasilla as well as state and Mat-Su Borough politics. She then moved to Boulder, Colo., where she attended law school at the University of Colorado. She interned at the Municipality of Anchorage and, the following year, interned at the Palmer district attorney's office before accepting a job as a public defender in Palmer.

Rachel Levitt, an attorney with the Office of Public Advocacy, knew McDonald as a colleague, friend and neighbor.

&#8220I first met her when she was an intern,” Levitt said. &#8220I can't even remember what year.”

Levitt clearly recalled her first impressions of McDonald, impressions that didn't change over time.

&#8220She was very thoughtful,” Levitt said. &#8220She gave things careful consideration in a professional context. She took her job very seriously. She had a clear understanding that what she did impacted real people and real lives.”

McDonald had a great way of communicating, through speaking and writing, Levitt said, and it might have had something to do with McDonald's years as a reporter, when McDonald spent so much time thinking about her audience. But that trait was just one of the many incredible qualities McDonald brought to an amazing and complicated life, Levitt said.

&#8220Her greatest ability was to connect with others,” she said.

Amy McCorkell, an investigator with the public defenders, worked with McDonald for a year and a half. Even while McDonald was very sick, she always fought the good fight for her clients, McCorkell said.

&#8220She believed in what she was doing,” McCorkell said. &#8220She liked being an advocate for people who didn't have funds for their own defense. She always found something to like about a client. She was one of the reasons it was so easy to work for the PD's office. She always saw the other side of the story. We loved her dearly and will always miss her.”

McDonald made everyone in the legal community a better person, including the DAs she worked for and against, the other lawyers in the defense bar, the judges and clients, said Superior Court Judge Beverly Cutler.

&#8220We note the best way to get respect is to give respect,” Judge Cutler said. &#8220That's very true about Laura. She was an extraordinary gem of a person.”

McDonald showed so much potential from an early age, and while it was a shame she didn't get to live out her potential, one other thing is worse, Cutler said.

&#8220Her most intense wish was just to see her daughter grow up,” the judge said. &#8220We're all grieving it didn't happen. One wonderful thing is, she had so many good friends that will help her child remember her.”

Although Gernat was familiar with the Valley, McDonald integrated her into the social fabric.

&#8220She was so Laura,” Gernat said. &#8220She said, ‘You are my friend, and these are my friends. So you are their friend.' Love beamed out of her. She was always happy and smiling.”

Her smile was infectious, Allen said, and it lit up a room.

McDonald and her longtime friend, Eowyn Ivey, joined the Frontiersman just as Vicki Naegele stepped into the managing editor's slot.

&#8220They were in tandem,” Naegele said, &#8220so responsible, eager to do the job better.”

Sometimes reporters just want to get a story done and meet the deadline, she said, but not McDonald.

&#8220She had a sense of caring and detail,” Naegele said. &#8220You can't teach someone to care.”

As a reporter, McDonald always had an interest in legal affairs, and it wasn't surprising when she left to go to law school, Naegele said. McDonald told Naegele about a brief she had written. The judge was surprised at how short it was, Naegele said - it was complete, but nicely concise.

&#8220It was a loss for journalism,” she said. &#8220She was a gem. You wanted to be in the company of Laura.”

Even while McDonald reached out to others, even during her four-year battle against angiosarcoma, a very rare form of cancer.

&#8220If you looked at her, you would never know it,” Gernat said. &#8220She never let that be her. She was concerned about how you felt about her cancer treatment.”

Once, Gernat mentioned she was sick from her pregnancy, and McDonald assured Gernat - even while McDonald was undergoing chemotherapy - that it was worse to be sick when pregnant.

&#8220She always wanted to make you feel better,” Gernat said, &#8220even when you knew things might not be OK with her.”

McDonald was close to Levitt's children. When the family lost a puppy, McDonald framed one of the many photos she'd taken of the kids and the dog, and gave it to Levitt's son, the one McDonald knew would be most upset.

&#8220This was at a time when she was undergoing serious chemo,” Levitt said. &#8220At a time a lot of other people spend time worrying about themselves, she sought out situations where she could help others. By all reasonable expectations, she was the one who should be receiving help.”

McDonald's infectious smile that lit up the room is gone. There is one fewer person to paddle kayaks and run trails with friends or adopt dogs who need love. There is an empty place at book club. Laura Mitchell McDonald slipped away on New Year's Day, and left a legacy of good work and many bereft hearts.

&#8220She was wonderful, kind, tiger-tough and sweet,” McCorkell said. &#8220When we met, I knew she was seriously ill. Yet it hurts. It still hurts.”

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.