Margaret Jean O’Donnell, a 40-year resident of Pacific Palisades, died on February 2 at age 87.
After graduating from Montreal High School, Jean attended nursing school at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. She worked as an RN for more than 40 years since 1957, many of those at the Jules Stein Eye Institute Operating Room at UCLA.
Jean was a key supporter of the successful effort to remediate the dangerous and often fatal curve on Sunset Boulevard in front of her home (ref. Jan and Dean songs “Dead Man’s Curve” and “Palisades Park”). Jean lived on Sunset Boulevard with her husband John Reynolds O’Donnell, MD from 1964 to 2005. They married in 1958 while Renny was a medical student at McGill University in Montreal.
In 2005, Jean and Renny relocated to the Central Coast town of Nipomo. Jean was an active member of the bridge club, a gardening guru, an artist, the gracious host of many legendary events and a crossword puzzle master.
Jean’s doors and heart were always open to all. She is deeply missed by her friends and family.
Jean is predeceased by her husband John Reynolds (2011) and son Roderick Stephen (2015). She is survived by her son Norman Michael, daughter Kathleen Noelle (Todd), son Daniel Dennis (Tammera), daughter Riley Jacqueline, grandchildren Aaron, Tara, Sarah, Wolfgang, and Hudson, and great-grandchild Theodore.
A memorial mass will be held at Corpus Christi Church in Pacific Palisades on March 18 at 11 a.m.
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