COVER STORY
“My dad was very active in the community and, of course, my
mom was there supporting him all the way,” Rhesa said. “I was,
and still am, very proud of his record of achievements.”
Today, as the wife of Liberty Bank & Trust Company founder
and president, Alden J. McDonald Jr., Rhesa continues the family
tradition of civic involvement, along with her husband of 45 years.
“He is of the same order as my dad,” she proudly stated. “Alden is
very active in the community as well. So it wasn’t anything new
for me to get involved in the community also.”
Among the couple’s proudest accomplishments was the establishment
of the Rhesa and Alden McDonald/Sue Ellen and
Joseph Canizaro Diabetes Research and Education Center at
New Orleans East Hospital. The facility was dedicated during
National Diabetes Month, November 2017.
As Rhesa explained, the center’s founding was the product of
personal experiences: she was diagnosed as a diabetic, as was
Canizaro, whom her husband knew from the business of being
the top executives of their respective banks.
“When I found out I had diabetes and my husband and I talked
about it and we got together with our friends, the Canizaros,”
Rhesa recalled. “We talked about opening up a facility at the New
Orleans East Hospital so that other people could be educated
about the disease and learn.”
And, not only is she one of the center’s founders and namesakes,
Rhesa is also a student there. “I’ve learned a lot about diabetes by
going to their classes,” she said. “I have taken all of the classes and
that has certainly helped me. So this facility isn’t just something
we opened and put there. Since I have diabetes, it just fit that we
would do something that not just helps me, but also helps other
people. It’s being widely used.”
Rhesa was also instrumental in initiating an annual fundraiser
for the United Negro College Fund that now contributes over a
million dollars a year to Xavier and Dillard universities, the city’s
two Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
“It (the UNCF fundraiser) started at our house many years ago
when our kids were little,” Rhesa recounted. “We had maybe 20
or so people at our first viewing party in the living room and after
that it just continued to grow.”
Within a few years the event drew so many people that it
outgrew the McDonalds’ living room and moved to the former
Plaza Lake Forest shopping mall in New Orleans East. Under a
variety of different names (The Ball in the Mall, The Ball on the
Belle, The Ball in the City) it continued to grow into progressively
larger venues until finally it became The Mayor’s Masked Ball. It
is now held in the downtown Hyatt Hotel.
“We’re proud to say that it started with us. It hasn’t died out
and it continues to get bigger. So that’s a good thing.”
Over the years Rhesa has received a number of awards and
honors for her work in the community, including awards from the
UNCF. In 2018 she received the “Champion of Change” award for
her work in healthcare advocacy from the Crescent City Chapter
of The Links, a worldwide service organization for professional
women of color. Earlier this year Archbishop Gregory Aymond of
the Archdiocese of New Orleans presented her with the Order of
St. Louis IX Medallion which honors members of the laity who
have contributed their time and talents to the church.
A major milestone in Rhesa’s adolescent life came in the early
1960s when, at her father’s request, she became one of three
female students to integrate Ursuline Academy. As she explained,
“I was scheduled to go to Xavier Prep High School and I was all
N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 9 breakthrumediamagazine.com | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | 17
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ALDEN MCDONALD
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM THORNS
Todd O. McDonald, Heidi McDonald Smith, Rhesa O. McDonald,
Alden J. McDonald, Jr. and Dr. Alden J. McDonald, III. Bottom:
Justice Revius O. Ortique Jr., Miriam V. Ortique
Parker Smith, Ellison McDonald, Bond Smith, Olivia
McDonald, Alden McDonald, Justice McDonald and Jordyn
McDonald
Autumn McDonald, Olivia McDonald,
Rhesa O. McDonald, Miriam V. Ortique,
Bond Smith, Heidi McDonald Smith ,
Ellison McDonald, Dr. Alden J. McDonald,
III, Alden McDonald, Alden J. McDonald,
Jr., Justice McDonald, Todd O. McDonald,
Jordyn McDonald, Crystal D. McDonald,
Marcus Smith and Parker Smith
Justice Revius O. Ortique, Jr., Rhesa O. McDonald,
Miriam V. Ortique, Todd O. McDonald, Heidi
McDonald Smith, Dr. Alden J. McDonald, III and
Alden J. McDonald, Jr.
/breakthrumediamagazine.com
