Mara Alessandra McDonald

Thank you so much for conveying this sad news. Please feel free to share this at the memorial service, which I cannot attend. In the early 1970's when I was a long-haired, wandering college dropout, Mara and I lived near each other in L.A. She owned a beat- up, old, VW microbus. The previous owner had stenciled across the back:: HOLDEN CAULFIELD WOULD HAVE BEEN A HIPPIE. That message prompted many queries from mystified gas station attendants. Mara would invite groups of friends, including me, to go camping all around Southern and Central California. We would bring cheap wine, and the occasional joint, marveling over the beauty of the flora, the fauna, the terrain, the ocean, and the stars. Mara loved nature, and devoted her life to examining (and explaining) the "interdependent web of life." It's no wonder that she became a Unitarian Universalist later in life. Sail on, girl. And don't worry. I'll vote against Trump.

As Director of the Biocore Bird Banding Station in the UW-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve, Mara McDonald supervised and trained many volunteers, including UW students and members of the Madison community. She founded the all-volunteer program in 2001 and provided countless opportunities for learning and research. Her dedication and enthusiasm will be greatly missed. Lakeshore Nature Preserve staff: Gary, Laura, Adam, Bryn

The deaths of good friends leave us feeling hollow, sorrowful, and speechless. Mara’s premature and totally unexpected death produced exactly that combination of feelings. How could someone so passionate, so intensely engaged with every facet of life, so connected — how could someone with so many interests, so many causes, so many friends — suddenly no longer be? On Friday, she participated in our reading group and played her usual role in our discussion, full of germane information, always ready to challenge ideas that seemed biased or simplistic, always ready to crack a joke when we got too somber or too pompous. We talked about our trajectory after we finish our current book, and Mara, always ready to take on new challenges, was looking forward to the next two or three books on our schedule. The news of her death stunned all of us. i have spent many hours in conversation with Mara. She was interested in everything. She loved science — especially evolution, conservation, and ornithology. She was deeply interested in social justice, in women’s rights, and in politics in general. Mara knew EVERYONE. She worked hard on the organization and administration of the J. F. Crow Institute for the Study of Evolution, the organization of Darwin Day celebrations, bird-banding projects on the Biocore Prairie, Unitarian Society lectures and radio interviews about science and ethics, and Lab of Genetics research grants and colloquia and special projects. Mara was wonderfully persuasive in recruiting people into these various projects. Most importantly, Mara was a friend. She kept track of the activities of her friends and was quick to offer sympathy and comfort when we encountered the inexorable disasters that come with living. We’ll remember Mara with a mixture of awe and sadness. She was special.

I will miss my cousin Mara, may we see each other in heaven. Mara was a caring, kind, and compassionate person and I was proud to have her in our family.

I live on Hammersley Rd and work next door at Dorn True Value. All of us at Dorn knew Mara and are devastated by her passing. She would be in 2 to 3 times a week. One of the nice things about spending over a decade at a small local family store is the number of customers you begin to count as friends. She and Macy were family. She would come in and whatever cashier was working would take Macy and keep her at the desk and give her some loving while Mara did her shopping. One day she needed some items at the Mexican Grocery next door, so Macy worked on the floor with me helping customers until Mara returned! Mara , and Macy, brightened up many an afternoon for us and it is sad that that light has been extinguished. One less lovely and fun person in a world that needs more not less of them.

I met Mara two weeks after she arrived in Gainesville, FL to complete her Phd. I was searching for a roommate and so was she. A man by the name of Mr. Opp put us in touch with one another. Mr. Opp said his name stood for "Other People's Problems, but Mara and I were instant friends, not just roommates We shared our home and our pets. I was with her when she took in Marshmallow (sign in the pet shop window read "Rejected Easter Bunny" and we agreed the little bundle of white fluff was just the ticket. Bunny and dogs (my Irish Setter, Tory, and Collie, Cree) became close friends. Marshmallow loved to have her ears groomed by the dogs. Ric and I took care of her whenever Mara was in Haiti. Mara was my maid of honor when Ric and I married. He was the one boyfriend she ever approved of, and when I told her I was engaged to him she said, "It's about time!" We remained friends, and she was considered FAMILY by me, my husband, and our two children over the last 36 years. She even took our son, Kristopher, for a few weeks over the summer when he was 9 years old. We stuck him on a plane and a flight attendant delivered him to Mara. She took him to work with her (where he had the time of his life) and to the Chicago Museum. Mara was, as far as our kids knew, their aunt. I never met Eric, but Mara shared so much about him that we're very sorry we never got the chance. Mara and I have stayed in touch all these years by phone and email, and the occasional visit. We spoke by phone about a week and a half before she passed. She seemed in good spirits and seemed her usual jovial self. We talked about what was happening in our respective lives. We grieve with everyone. She will be missed.