Princeton Chapel will be full on December 15th during the celebration of the life of Isabella Livaudais De La Houssaye, an incredibly prolific endurance athlete and mother of five children who passed away at 59.
She lived a life full of accomplishments, achievements, and adventures, many performed with her husband and her daughter and four sons.
She climbed mountains (four of the Seven Summits), did marathon runs in all 50 American states, and did all kinds of endurance activities “in an effort to both teach them skills such as patience, focus, perseverance as well as an appreciation of nature.” She and her husband frequently planned and completed a variety of endurance events on land, up mountains, across lakes and lava fields, on bikes, in wetsuits, in hiking boots, some done spontaneously, with their children since they were young.
Her level of energy and accomplishments were off the charts. She ultimately finished 24 Ironman Triathlons and ran in more than 70 marathons before she succumbed to non-small-cell lung cancer. But as she was fighting lung cancer, she also ran 3 marathons, one using walking poles, hiked 804 km in Spain’s Camino De Santiago, ran a 100 km ultramarathon, completed an Ironman Triathlon, and summited the 6,961m (22,840-foot) Aconcagua.
After graduating from Princeton University in 1986 and Columbia Law School in 1990, she worked at the law firm White & Case and Lehman Brothers before she began raising 5 children. Later, she became an owner of Material Culture, an art and antiques retail store and auction house, and continued to do all kinds of charitable activities.
Even after she was diagnosed with lung cancer in January 2018 until her passing, she kept competing in endurance events with her family:
- Ironman Arizona with her youngest child
- Ironman Cozumel with her five children
- bicycle ride across America from San Diego to Florida with her husband
- walked in marathons in Antarctica and Chile with two of her children
Her son Cason told the New York Times, “You looked at this 5-foot-2 (155 cm), 85-pound (38.5 kg) frame, and you’re thinking that the only way to understand this is the incredible power of the human mind.”
She was named a Fellow of The Explorers Club in 2023 and completed these full Ironman Triathlons:
- Ironman Cozumel 2022 in 15 hours 41 minutes
- Ironman Texas 2022 while on chemotherapy for stage IV lung cancer in 16 hours 27 minutes
- Ironman Arizona 2019 in 16 hours 30 minutes
- Ironman Wisconsin 2019 in 16 hours 25 minutes
- Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii 2018 in 14 hours 56 minutes
- Ironman Gurye 2018 in 15 hours 37 minutes
- Ironman Maryland 2016 in 11 hours 48 minutes
- Ironman Chattanooga 2016 in 15 hours 19 minutes
- Ironman Cozumel 2015 in 14 hours 28 minutes
Read an interview with her: Talking Cancer: Conversation with Ultramarathoner, Triathlete, Mother, Wife, Business Owner and Overachiever, Isabella de la Houssaye.
Her obituary is here.
A familiar quote of hers: “It is not about managing your fears, it is about expanding your comfort zones.”
In accordance with her wishes, attendees at her celebration of life are encouraged to wear colorful attire as a celebration of her incredible life, family, mindset, and accomplishments. A memorial service to honor her life will be held on December 15th at 3:30 pm at the Princeton University Chapel on Washington Rd & William St., Princeton, NJ 08540. Following the memorial service, a celebration of life will take place at 6:00 pm at Orchard Hill, located at 3071 Lawrenceville Rd., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648.
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