Lena Madoline Neill McNamara

July 3, 1917 to February 12, 2012

Lena Madoline Neill was born to James Newton Neill and his wife, Lena Belle Neill on July 3, 1917, in Las Animas, Colorado. Madoline was the oldest of four children. On Sunday, February 12, 2012, Madoline died in the presence of her five children and loved ones, in Scotts Valley, California. She had a long, full, and interesting life.

She is preceded in death by her parents, her brothers, Sterling Neill and John Neill, her beloved husband, Leonard McNamara, and many of her dear friends. She is survived by her brother, Calvin Neill (Round Rock, TX), her children, Kathleen McNamara (Fresno, CA), Michael and Pamela McNamara (Wenatchee, WA), Sheilagh Peyton (Santa Cruz, CA), Anne and Vince Meurlott (Fairbanks, AK), and Margaret and Reed Lewis (Portland, OR). She will be sorely missed by her 10 grandchildren, Meghan and Seamus Gallagher, Julia McNamara, Sara Peyton Miller, John Peyton IV, Clare Meurlott Hernandez, Nick and Chris Meurlott, and Marie and Evan Lewis. She also had 10 great grandchildren, ages 8 years to 3 months.

Madoline left her parent's home upon completing high school and went to college in Grenada Mississippi, Gunnison, Colorado, and Beloit Wisconsin. She started a Master's Degree of Social work at the University of Chicago, but her studies were interrupted by WWII, and then marriage and family.

Madoline and her husband, the late Dr. Leonard McNamara, moved to soap Lake, Washington in 1949. As they established themselves in the Columbia Basin, Madoline became involved in many civic endeavors. She was active in her parish, Saint Rose of Lima and Our Most Sorrowful Mother churches. She volunteered with Catholic Family and Child Service (CFCS) as a social case worker from 1952 to 1964. She went to work for CFCS full time from 1964 to 1982, and then back to work for the agency in 1985 until 1987, finally retiring a couple of weeks before her 80th birthday. She was also very active in the schools in Soap Lake, heading a local and state campaign to open a local high school. She chaired the Soap Lake School board from 1958 to 1972.

She was an active participant in the arts and played multiple musical instruments. She engendered a love of music and the arts in her children and grandchildren. She loved hearing them get together to sing and play. She enjoyed painting landscapes, and took up knitting and crochet in her later years. She was an avid reader and a whiz at the crossword puzzle. She also helped her nephew, Tim McNamara, research and compile the McNamara family genealogy. There were some things she could not do. She could not swim, make a hair-do look right, nor write legibly. She didn't feel it was important. That was for others to excel in. She did think it was important to have a positive outlook on life and to encourage the best in people. She wanted us to be optimistic, forgiving and hopeful for one another, to listen to each other, to play music, laugh, build our communities and nurture our friendships.

A funeral mass will be offered at Saint Rose of Lima Catholic church in Ephrata, Washington at 11 a.m., on June 23, 2012. A memorial celebration will be held later that day, in Soap Lake. Details will follow. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests making donations to the Oregon Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, 2710 NW Vaughn St., Suite #203, Portland, OR 97201. Please note in memory of Madoline McNamara