Edith Macefield died at home, just the way she wanted.
The Ballard woman who captured hearts and admirers around the world when she stubbornly turned down $1 million to sell her home to make way for a commercial development died Sunday of pancreatic cancer. She was 86.
“I don’t want to move. I don’t need the money. Money doesn’t mean anything,” she told the Seattle P-I in October.
She continued living in the little old house in the 1400 block of Northwest 46th Street even after concrete walls rose around her, coming within a few feet of her kitchen window. Cranes towered over her roof. Macefield turned up the television or her favorite opera music a little louder and stayed put.
“I went through World War II, the noise doesn’t bother me,” she said in October. “They’ll get it done someday.”
Macefield’s stubbornness was cheered by Ballard residents tired of watching the blue-collar neighborhood disappear under condominiums and trendy restaurants. Her story was picked up by the national news and spread around the world.
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Good for her.
She died! Is that what was good?
Good that she fought the man – and won; she went out on her terms. I agree with Derek.
WooHoo,
She went down fighting, and winning, in a war most are too timid to consider.
Agreed. Good for her.
Wouldn’t be nice living in the shadow of that monstrosity.