Alma Deane

Retired editor and head of book publishing at the National Wildlife Federation, died November 13, 2015 in Alexandria, VA. She taught one-room country schools in Kansas from age 16 to 19, then worked her way through Kansas State University and earned a degree in journalism.

Mrs. MacConomy came to Washington in 1944 as a reporter covering the Senate for Congressional Intelligence. Later she held public relations posts with the American National Red Cross, American Forest Products Industries, and the Campfire Girls.

As a free lance writer following her marriage to Edward N. MacConomy in 1957, she launched the Merry Go Round, a weekly children's calendar of events, now known as the Capital Carousel, for The Washington Post in 1966 and published a children's book, Odd Jobs in Lumbering, in 1967.

In 1970 she helped the National Wildlife Federation create the Conservation Summit, a popular nature vacation for families.

As a young woman, she was an active member of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, setting aside her professional career for four years to be housekeeper for the manse for Dr. Peter and Catherine Marshall during the latter's long illness. As well as research assistant to Catherine Marshall for her books Catherine Marshall's Story Bible and the novel Christy. Since 1979 she has been a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria where she served on the vestry and as chairperson of Outreach and Ordination Committees.

She was predeceased by her husband. She is survived by their son, Scott and his wife Kelly of Alexandria; granddaughter, Kiera Thompson of Boston, MA; and a grandson, Cameron of Los Angeles, CA.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, November 29, from 5 to 8 p.m., at Everly Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 W. Braddock Rd., Alexandria, VA 22302. A service will be held on Monday, November 30, at Grace Episcopal Church, 3601 Russell Rd., Alexandria, VA. Interment will immediately follow at Ivy Hill Cemetery. Online tributes can be made at www.everlywheatley.com . Donations may be made in honor of Alma Deane to the Campagna Center in Alexandria, VA.

- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?pid=176612529#sthash.p6FYk4be.dpuf

Mom, Edward & Alma Deane MacConomy

Cousin Edward was a legend in our family. He told this story about a goat that got people rolling on the floor. He was a very smart man who worked at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and I was fortunate enough to have spent some time with him when I was younger. I loved Cousin Edward as we all did on the MacDonald side of the family.  

However, I was fascinated with Alma Deane, his wife. Alma Deane was a writer. More importantly to me, she was a reporter. In 1944. In Washington, covering the Senate for Congressional Intelligence. I thought that was so cool. She retired as editor and head of book publishing for the National Wildlife Federation. She had also taught school in a one-room school house, worked her way through Kansas State University, held PR posts at the Red Cross among other places, she was a research assistant for Dr. Peter and Catherine Marshall, and she wrote me letters. 

I loved that last part more than anything.

She loved that I was a writer too. That I had a degree in journalism like her. And I remember, when I was just out of grad school and my parents gave me a plane ticket for Christmas to Washington D.C. to visit friends how excited I was to go to her residence, to have lunch with her in the fancy dining room, and to talk writing. 

Thinking back now, Alma Deane was definitely one of my first role models. I didn't know about her writing when I was young but I did know about the stories of her different jobs. How she and Edward lived what I assumed was a glamorous life in the big city of Washington. (I've since realized big cities are not terribly glamorous by rule.) She worked at the Washington Post and created columns that still run today. I mean really, how cool is that? 

Today I will not mourn Alma Deane, who is being remembered at her funeral service by her friends and family. Instead I will remember, and celebrate, her 96 amazing years on this earth. Her writing, her editing, her work, her family, and her love. And I will revel in the fact that as a member of our family, we got to be witness to a tiny bit of all of that. She was the beginning of what so many of us do now. What so many of us want to do now. Make the world a bit better. Write the world a bit better. #awomanwrotethat

Alma Deane & I when I visited her in D.C.

Retired editor and head of book publishing at the National Wildlife Federation, died November 13, 2015 in Alexandria, VA. She taught one-room country schools in Kansas from age 16 to 19, then worked her way through Kansas State University and earned a degree in journalism.

Mrs. MacConomy came to Washington in 1944 as a

- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?pid=176612529#sthash.p6FYk4be.dpuf

Retired editor and head of book publishing at the National Wildlife Federation, died November 13, 2015 in Alexandria, VA. She taught one-room country schools in Kansas from age 16 to 19, then worked her way through Kansas State University and earned a degree in journalism.

Mrs. MacConomy came to Washington in 1944 as a reporter covering the Senate for Congressional Intelligence. Later she held public relations posts with the American National Red Cross, American Forest Products Industries, and the Campfire Girls.

As a free lance writer following her marriage to Edward N. MacConomy in 1957, she launched the Merry Go Round, a weekly children's calendar of events, now known as the Capital Carousel, for The Washington Post in 1966 and published a children's book, Odd Jobs in Lumbering, in 1967.

In 1970 she helped the National Wildlife Federation create the Conservation Summit, a popular nature vacation for families.

As a young woman, she was an active member of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, setting aside her professional career for four years to be housekeeper for the manse for Dr. Peter and Catherine Marshall during the latter's long illness. As well as research assistant to Catherine Marshall for her books Catherine Marshall's Story Bible and the novel Christy. Since 1979 she has been a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria where she served on the vestry and as chairperson of Outreach and Ordination Committees.

She was predeceased by her husband. She is survived by their son, Scott and his wife Kelly of Alexandria; granddaughter, Kiera Thompson of Boston, MA; and a grandson, Cameron of Los Angeles, CA.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, November 29, from 5 to 8 p.m., at Everly Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 W. Braddock Rd., Alexandria, VA 22302. A service will be held on Monday, November 30, at Grace Episcopal Church, 3601 Russell Rd., Alexandria, VA. Interment will immediately follow at Ivy Hill Cemetery. Online tributes can be made at www.everlywheatley.com . Donations may be made in honor of Alma Deane to the Campagna Center in Alexandria, VA.

- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?pid=176612529#sthash.p6FYk4be.dpuf

Retired editor and head of book publishing at the National Wildlife Federation, died November 13, 2015 in Alexandria, VA. She taught one-room country schools in Kansas from age 16 to 19, then worked her way through Kansas State University and earned a degree in journalism.

Mrs. MacConomy came to Washington in 1944 as a reporter covering the Senate for Congressional Intelligence. Later she held public relations posts with the American National Red Cross, American Forest Products Industries, and the Campfire Girls.

As a free lance writer following her marriage to Edward N. MacConomy in 1957, she launched the Merry Go Round, a weekly children's calendar of events, now known as the Capital Carousel, for The Washington Post in 1966 and published a children's book, Odd Jobs in Lumbering, in 1967.

In 1970 she helped the National Wildlife Federation create the Conservation Summit, a popular nature vacation for families.

As a young woman, she was an active member of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, setting aside her professional career for four years to be housekeeper for the manse for Dr. Peter and Catherine Marshall during the latter's long illness. As well as research assistant to Catherine Marshall for her books Catherine Marshall's Story Bible and the novel Christy. Since 1979 she has been a member of Grace Episcopal Church in Alexandria where she served on the vestry and as chairperson of Outreach and Ordination Committees.

She was predeceased by her husband. She is survived by their son, Scott and his wife Kelly of Alexandria; granddaughter, Kiera Thompson of Boston, MA; and a grandson, Cameron of Los Angeles, CA.

The family will receive friends on Sunday, November 29, from 5 to 8 p.m., at Everly Wheatley Funeral Home, 1500 W. Braddock Rd., Alexandria, VA 22302. A service will be held on Monday, November 30, at Grace Episcopal Church, 3601 Russell Rd., Alexandria, VA. Interment will immediately follow at Ivy Hill Cemetery. Online tributes can be made at www.everlywheatley.com . Donations may be made in honor of Alma Deane to the Campagna Center in Alexandria, VA.

- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/washingtonpost/obituary.aspx?pid=176612529#sthash.p6FYk4be.dpuf