Helen MacDonald Whitehouse died peacefully on August 2nd at her home in Chagrin Falls. Helen, known to family and friends as Honnie, was born in Norwalk, Ohio in 1927. Proud to be descended from one of the founding families of Norwalk, she remembered an idyllic childhood along with her beloved brothers, Alan and Pete. She had fond memories of singing in the St. Paul’s Church choir with her mother, Ruth MacDonald. She grew up walking to school along a Main Street dotted with the homes of relatives and friends. She loved to visit Norwalk and point out the many landmarks of her young life.

Upon graduating from Denison University, she worked at the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C. That summer she went on a blind date with Alton W. Whitehouse, a law student at the University of Virginia. The two fell in love quickly — he proposed to her within the year and they married in November, 1952. Happily for both of them, Al had accepted an offer with a Cleveland law firm. They moved to their first apartment near Shaker Square and both began forging deep and lasting ties to the city and its suburbs. They had three children, Tony, Sarah, and Peter.

Settling in Shaker Heights, Helen worked with the Junior League creating puppets for traveling shows at Cleveland schools, volunteering at the Garden Center, particularly the White Elephant Sale, and later, The Holden Arboretum. A highlight of every year was the Wild Flower Sale at the Arboretum. Together with landscape designer Tony Colini, she designed and planted a beautiful wild flower garden at the home in Hunting Valley that she and Al had built in 1970. Alton’s career prospered — in 1968 he moved to the Standard Oil Co. of Ohio as General Counsel, becoming President and then CEO in the 1970s. Al joined the BP board and Helen loved the many opportunities to travel to Great Britain — one visit included dining in a small group with Queen Elizabeth II.

Helen and Al loved to travel. Al’s work and board positions took them on regular trips to Alaska, Australia, China, and all over Europe. But every summer included at least one and often two trips to their favorite vacation destination, the Rocky Mountain west where they both fished and Helen got to ride, something she had loved to do since childhood. They both enjoyed time devoted to the Cleveland Museum of Art, especially trips with the museum’s Board of Trustees and Directors. Helen developed a love of Chinese antiques and art and later studied Japanese Ikebana flower arranging. She enjoyed showing her work in competitions and later at South Franklin Circle, where she lived after Alton’s death in 2013. An Asian-inspired garden bridge at the Cleveland Botanical Garden marks her devotion to both the Garden Center and the Holden Arboretum.

Helen loved a great number of dogs and cats over her long life. In her later years she had taken in older rescue cats for company. Her family requests that instead of flowers a donation could be made to Rescue Village (https://www.rescuevillage.org).

Helen passed in her sleep, at ease and in comfort. She is survived by her three children, Alton Whitehouse, Sarah Lyda, and Peter Whitehouse, along with six grandchildren and six great grandchildren, and her older brother, Pete Macdonald of Saratoga Springs.

A celebration of Helen’s life will be held on Sunday, October 25, 2026 at noon in the Garden Room at the Cleveland Botanical Garden.