Beloved mother, sister, aunt, great-aunt, librarian, voracious reader

Beloved mother, sister, aunt, great-aunt, librarian, and voracious reader Lauren Cassatt, age 80, died peacefully on January 19.

Lauren Margaret MacDonald was born in Boston on January 12, 1946, (part of that first wave of the baby boom generation) to Forrest and Helen MacDonald. She grew up in El Segundo, California, and earned her BA in sociology from University of the Pacific in Stockton, where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority. She lived in San Francisco from 1968-1970 (the glory years), and worked for the U.S. Passport Agency. She moved to Aspen, Colorado, in 1970, where she spent 45 frigid years.

In Aspen, Lauren worked first as the business manager of the Aspen Times (21 years) and then as librarian of Aspen High School and district librarian of Aspen School District (20 years). She earned her MA in educational media from University of Northern Colorado at the ripe old age of 62.

The Aspen Times is where she met her husband Chris Cassatt, the photographer/cartoonist. They married in 1974, and had two wonderful children: Alex (1980), and Hayley (1984). Chris died in 2013 after a short, brutal fight with lymphoma.

She retired in 2015 and moved to Claremont/Pomona. Her children were in Portland and Seattle (foreign lands), so she decided to go back to sunny, hot California. “Lauren thought the California heat would be her undoing, but cancer had other plans for her demise,” her family shared. She and her family had visited Claremont many times to see her sister, Karen Rosenthal and family, and her parents, who had moved from El Segundo to Claremont in 2000.

In her free time she (surprise) loved to read, especially mysteries/whodunits, the darker the better, and had finally subscribed to the notion of “less is more”; she had undertaken a major downsizing of all the “stuff” in her life, including whittling all the photos down to a few boxes instead of many. She also watched too much TV, was superglued to her computer and iPad, and dabbled in yoga. She became somewhat of a “duck whisperer,” and thoroughly enjoyed the Mallard families in the ponds at Quail Creek Condos, where she lived.

She began tutoring with Claremont After-School Programs in 2015. She enjoyed the position of site supervisor from 2017-2024. She was a member of two book groups, and Friends of the Claremont Library and Campus Women of the Claremont Colleges. She designed many flyers, brochures, and newsletters for each. Her organization/attention to detail nerdiness was put to good use!

She was predeceased by her husband, Chris; her parents; and her brother, Cameron.

She is survived by her children, Alex and Hayley; sister Karen; brother-in-law Michael; nieces Alix Rosenthal and Ariel Parrish; great-nephew/nieces Elliott, Helena, and Bowie; and several cousins.

Alex and Hayley may be reached at lmcassatt@gmail.com. Donations may be made to Planned Parenthood Los Angeles at plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-los-angeles/donate; or CLASP at clasp4kids.org.

A memorial event will be held on a future date.

Her family encourages remembrance via, “Have a wee dram, tell some stories, laugh, and be happy you knew her. Skål and sláinte!”