Constance (Connie) Trapp MacCrate, longtime resident of Plandome, New York, passed away on Jan. 21 at the age of 95.
Beloved wife of Robert; sister to Harry, Virginia and Jackie; mother to Christopher, Barbara and Thomas; mother-in-law to Kari, Chuck and Claire; grandmother to Ryan, Kyle, Samantha, Matthew, Elisa, Kristia, Danielle, Caitlin, Juliet and Isobel and great-grandmother to Brandon, Charlotte, Maverick, Daemon, Wade and Aurora.
She was the guiding light of the MacCrate family.
Born in Laconia, New Hampshire, in 1920 to Judge Harry Trapp and Florence McGloughlin Trapp, she lived her life as a true New Hampshirite, following the state motto: “Live Free or Die,” and taught by example humility, kindness and resolve (some say stubbornness) to all who met her. Devoted to children and education, she volunteered for many years at Shelter Rock School, taught Sunday school at the Congregational Church of Manhasset and never missed a game or recital or anything else her kids participated in, always offering her unfaltering support. She was a true constant in her family’s lives.
Connie matriculated from Mount Holyoke College in 1942, went on to work at Harvard Business School, and met her husband, Robert MacCrate, while he was attending Harvard Law School. They were married on May 4, 1946, in Laconia, NH, and spent the next 69 years together, until her passing with Robert at her side.
She was remembered privately by the family. Those who would like to share in her remembrance may send memorial gifts to The Legal Aid Society of New York at www.donate.legal-aid.org; questions regarding these gifts may be directed to Connie’s granddaughter, Caitlin MacCrate, at cjmaccrate@gmail.com, who is running the NYC Half Marathon to benefit the Legal Aid Society in her grandmother’s honor.
And finally, from Robert Burns…
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love for ever.
Had we never lov’d sae kindly,
Had we never lov’d sae blindly,
Never met- or never parted-
We had ne’er been broken-hearted.
