Edith Macefield, an elderly woman living in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle died at home last Sunday. She gained recognition for turning down $1 million dollars to sell her home and make way for commercial development. As you can see from the image her home is surrounded with commercial development on all sides. It is uncertain what will happen to her home.

According to the King County medical examiner’s office she died of pancreatic cancer. From the Seattle Post Intelligencer:

Macefield’s stubborn streak led her to join the service while still in high school. She told her mother she was going to college. The young woman was already in England when officials figured out she wasn’t 18 and threw her out of the service, she said.

But in love, she remained in England where she cared for war orphans. She returned to the U.S. to care for her mother until she died. She worked at Washington Dental Services, when its office was on Market Street in Ballard.

She loved opera, national politics, writing and old movies. She adored animals, and could be seen almost every day standing outside her front yard tossing out seeds for the birds.

“Once she told me it felt as if she had lived three lifetimes,” Martin said. “It is interesting that one person could do so many things, then come to Ballard and live so quietly.”