A. Veronica Mcdonnell

A. Veronica McDonnell, 94, of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, died November 27, 2018. Born in Brooklyn, NY on March 20, 1924, she was the daughter of Richard Burke and Anne (Corcoran) Burke. She grew up in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, and graduated from St. Agnes Seminary High School in 1941. She attended St. Joseph’s College for Women and earned a degree in social work, the first woman in her extended family to receive a college degree. In 1947, Veronica married Harold E. McDonnell, also of Brooklyn, and their marriage continued happily for 70 years until Harold’s death on January 20, 2018.

Veronica and Harold met in 1940. During World War II, while Harold was overseas as an Army Air Corps pilot, Veronica wrote him a letter every day. After the war, Harold pursued an engineering degree at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., and Veronica, having taken her degree in 1945, worked in social services in Brooklyn. They married in Brooklyn’s Holy Cross Parish on December 27, 1947, in a nuptial mass celebrated by Harold’s brother.

In 1949, after Harold’s college graduation, they moved to St. Mary’s County in southern Maryland, where Harold began work as a flight test engineer at the Naval Air Test Center, and Veronica took charge of their growing family. She also became actively involved in the mission and life of the local parish, Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the grammar school her children first attended, Little Flower.

In 1958—when Veronica’s lifelong favorite team, the Brooklyn Dodgers, relocated to L.A.—Harold and Veronica moved west themselves. They purchased a home on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and moved in October 1958. Veronica celebrated Thanksgiving dinner there with three of her children five days before she died.

As she had in Maryland, Veronica, known to family and friends as “Ronnie,” became deeply involved in her local parish, first at St. Lawrence Martyr in Redondo Beach from 1958-1961, then in St. John Fisher Parish at its founding in 1961. She remained a faithful communicant and parishioner of SJF until her death. Ronnie served in many volunteer capacities with both the parish and school. She was president of the St. John Fisher Parish Women’s Council, twice a guild captain (the second time while in her eighties), and an organizer of the parish’s 50th anniversary celebrations in 2011.

As her children grew, Veronica enthusiastically returned to the work force. She took a job in retail sales at Finley’s Jewelry and Camera Shop in the Peninsula Center in 1975 and remained with the business for almost 40 years. She enjoyed the work, the people with whom she worked, and the customers she met. Veronica helped grow the gift department and ended up managing it for many years. She continued with Finley’s through various relocations and, at age 90, was still working one day a week until her family finally persuaded her to retire.

Ronnie’s two sisters, Mary Jo Burke and Rita Lanigan, predeceased her. She is survived by her two brothers, Thomas Burke of Rhode Island and Richard Burke of New York, and her children: Suzanne McDonnell of San Francisco, CA (Dennis Weaver); Robert McDonnell of Wellesley, MA (Kathryn Lynch); Barbara McIntosh of Ft. Walton Beach, FL (Morris McIntosh); and John McDonnell of Los Angeles, CA (Cecy Guerrero). Her six grandchildren include Michael McDonnell (Rachel Grant), Madeline McDonnell (Nick Dybek), Patrick Weaver, Bonnie Rose Weaver, Leo McDonnell, and Mariah Weaver. The family’s great-grandchildren are Jimmy McDonnell and Veronica Dybek.

A funeral mass will be celebrated at St. John Fisher Church, Rancho Palos Verdes, at 1 p.m. on Monday, December 17, 2018. Burial will follow at Green Hills Memorial Park.