Laura McDonald

Public defender, lifelong Valley resident and former Frontiersman reporter Laura McDonald, 33, died at her Sutton home New Year's morning, 2007, after a hard-fought battle with cancer.
A celebration of life for Laura will be at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Palmer Train Depot in downtown Palmer. She will be cremated and her ashes scattered on Granite Peak near her Sutton home at a later date.
Laura Christine (Mitchell) McDonald was born Nov. 26, 1973, at Valley Hospital in Palmer to Allen Mitchell and Cheryl Mitchell. Her mother described Laura as a child who, from the beginning, had a mind of her own.
"Her first sentence was 'Don't augie me' -- 'Don't argue with me,'" her mom recalled. That conviction later earned Laura a reputation as an exacting reporter and devoted public defender.
Her family wrote: "As a child, Laura also began forming the interests that would stay with her for the rest of her life -- ice skating, traveling, hiking, running, reading and seeking adventure. She excelled in school, ice skated competitively as a child, and later ran on the Palmer High School track and cross-country teams. During these years, she also formed friendships that would last the rest of her life.
"She graduated from Palmer High School in 1991, and went on to earn a journalism degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage. She then worked for several years at the Frontiersman as a reporter covering the police beat, the court system and the city of Wasilla, among other beats. She also wrote personal columns in which she shared her love of Alaska and her self-deprecating sense of humor. She earned Alaska Press Club awards for many of these articles.
"Laura then attended University of Colorado, where in 2002, she earned her law degree. She returned to Alaska, which she considered her only true home. In the spring of 2002, she married fellow Alaskan Norm McDonald. On Oct. 16, 2002, she gave birth to their daughter, Alexa. The three of them have made their home in Sutton where Laura enjoyed being close to the wilderness and mountains. She served an internship with the District Attorney's office and then was hired as a public defender in Palmer.
"She continued to earn friends everywhere she went, and was a founding member of both a local book club and a babies group for mothers.
"Laura is described as an outgoing person who brought her joie de vivre into every room she entered, and at the same time she valued their privacy. She was committed to living life to its fullest. Even as she underwent medical treatment, she continued to work, run, travel, and make the most of her time with her family and friends."
"She fought to the end to have as much life as possible," her mother said.
Laura is survived by her husband, Norm McDonald; and daughter, Alexa, both of Sutton; father, Allen Mitchell, and mother, Cheryl Mitchell, both of Palmer; brother and sister-in-law, Brandt and Lisa Mitchell, of Martinsville, Va.; father- and mother-in-law, Giles and Jeanette McDonald of Palmer; maternal grandmother, Frances Miller of Costa Mesa, Calif.; uncles and their wives, Joseph and Tracey Miller of Irvine, Calif., Ronald and Sharon Mitchell of Folsom, Calif., and John and Wendy Mitchell of Rockport, Maine; brother-in-law, Scott McDonald of Anchorage; great-aunt, Dorothy Goode of Costa Mesa, Calif.; cousins, John Goode Jr. of Lakewood, Calif., Brette Miller, Alexis Miller Alexander and Devin Alexander, all of Newport Beach, Calif., and Jeanne Teal of Mansfield, Pa.; as well as many friends and co-workers.
Laura was preceded in death by her paternal grandfather and grandmother, George Allen Mitchell Sr. and Della Mitchell; maternal grandfather, Joseph B. Miller Sr.; aunt, Linda Miller; uncle, Terry Mitchell; and uncle, John Goode.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Laura Christine Mitchell McDonald scholarship fund at the Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union for Palmer High School graduates interested in pursuing a law degree, or to the Friends of the Sutton Library (Laura Christine Mitchell McDonald memorial fund for children's books), Sutton.