Eunice Donald

DONALD, Eunice Reynolds, age 99, died December 31, 2010. She was preceded in death in 1960 by her husband of 22 years, Paul Eugene Donald; and by her daughter, Anne Foster Donald in 1967. She is survived by her daughter, Abigail Donald Tiller Cutter; her son-in-law, W. Bowman Cutter; her granddaughter, Anne Catherine Tiller; her grandson, David George Tiller and his wife, Enion Pelta-Tiller; her stepgranddaughter, Ana Patel and her husband, Dar Patel; her stepgrandson, Bo Cutter and his wife, Maya Federman; four great-grandchildren, Justine Tiller, Gallo Patel, Wesley Cutter and Aesop Tiller; and many nieces and nephews and their children. Eunice was born in 1911 in Orange, Va., and was the fourth of seven children. She was such an outstanding student, that when she applied in 1927 at the age of 16 to the medical technicians program at the Medical College of Virginia, her high school principal drove to Richmond to urge the college to accept her. She graduated in 1930 and worked as the lead technician in doctors' private practices and taught medical technology to numerous students. In 1938, she met Paul Donald, a journalist for the Richmond News Leader, and in six months accepted his marriage proposal. Eunice left Virginia, for the first time ever, alone on a train to Portland, Ore., where Paul had taken a job in public relations as part of the WPA. The job took them all over the Pacific Northwest to various Government WPA sites and projects, and then to San Francisco for two years, where they hobnobbed with well-known writers and artists. After returning to Virginia, they lived in Richmond and Washington, D.C., over the course of 10 years. They finally returned to Richmond for good in 1950. In 1955, they bought a house and settled in Westover Hills, where Eunice lived until 2002, when she moved to Imperial Plaza. Eunice worked at McGuire's Veterans Administration Hospital until 1980, retiring at the age of 70. She was the supervisory medical technologist for the Electrocardiogram, Pulmonary, and Allergy Laboratories. She had an extraordinary work ethic -including going out alone in the middle of snowy nights when she was on call at the age of 70; she kept up with the latest medical practices and new developments in chemistry and was well respected by those who worked with and for her. She relished her job in medicine and being part of a family of five nurses and two doctors. More importantly, she has been the center around which her immediate and extended family revolved. Widowed for many years, she raised two daughters and sent them to college, and was the person depended upon by her siblings whenever they had problems. In later years, her many younger friends and family turned to her for wise counsel and strength. As a young single woman, Eunice used her small salary to send two brothers to VPI for engineering degrees and bought her elderly father and mother a small farm in Chesterfield County. Eunice was always known for her great sense of style and fashion. She made sewing an art and always used designer patterns - creating beautiful clothes for herself, her daughters and her grandchildren. Fearing she would fall in her late 80s, her family had trouble convincing her to give up her high heels, her favorite preferred footwear. At age 99, Eunice still adorned herself with lovely necklaces and wonderful belts. Eunice was passionately interested in the lives of her children and their families, her grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and her nieces and nephews and their families. They were all blessed that she was just as sharp mentally the day she died as she had always been, and retained her ever-present sense of humor. The family extends special gratitude to the wonderful professional caregivers at Companion Extraordinaire, especially Doris Davis, for the loving and considerate care they all provided during Eunice's last illness. Her remains are at Bliley's- Central, 3801 August Ave., Richmond, Va. The family will receive visitors on Tuesday, January 4 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. A memorial service will be held 3 p.m. Wednesday, January 5, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 815 East Grace Street, Richmond, Va., in the small chapel entrance on 9th Street. In lieu of flowers, donations in Eunice's name can be made to CARE Women's Initiative, 32 W. 39th St., 3rd Floor, New York, N.Y. 10018. Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on 1/4/2011.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.