Sally McDonald

1926 - 2018

Sally McDonald

Annville - Sally McDonald passed away on October 16, 2018. Sally was born Sarah Louise Golden to Marguerite (Schwarzenbach) Golden and Thomas H. Golden on June 22, 1926 in Pottsville, PA. She graduated from Pottsville High School in 1943, and Hood College, Frederick, MD in 1947. Following graduation, Sally worked for the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company as a Home Economist until 1950 when she married William Aloysius (Bill) McDonald, a classmate from Pottsville High.

Sally and Bill raised five children: Timothy, Patrick, Maggie, Susan, and Katy. The McDonald family lived in State College and Bethlehem PA, Morton Grove, Illinois, and Havertown, PA before settling in Lebanon, PA in 1961.

In 1975, Sally and Bill moved to a farm in Annville, where they raised sheep, horses, chickens, and peacocks. In 1981, they opened Stablegate Feed Store in Grantville, serving the racing industry at Penn National Racetrack. Sally managed the business side while Bill handled sales and customers. They sold the store in 1991 and retired to their farm where they continued to raise sheep until Bill's death in 2003.

Sally was a knitter, a skilled gardener, a superb cook, an avid reader, and a sparkling conversationalist with an expansive sense of humor. During her retirement, she volunteered at the Lebanon Valley Brethren Home. She spent her later years at her farm, enjoying her family and menagerie of animals, voraciously reading mystery fiction, and cherishing the farm she loved so much.

She was preceded in death by her beloved husband Bill, and by her sister Jean Golden Phillips. She is survived by her brother. Thomas H. Golden of Rogers, Arkansas, and her children: Timothy and wife Susan of San Rafael, CA, Patrick of Boston, MA, Maggie and husband Paul McClusky of Hershey, PA, Susan and husband Steve Seyler of Sandbeach, PA, and Katy and husband Renato Seixas of Annville, PA. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Frederik, Claudia and Julia Seixas, Molly McClusky, Ariane McDonald, as well as by her three great-grandchildren, Vergil, Gabriel and Alice Torres-Seixas.

Memorial donations may be made to the Palmyra Public Library. A memorial service will be held at 2 PM on October 27, 2018 at the Kreamer Funeral Home, 618 E. Main Street, Annville.