December 11, 1921 – April 2, 2025
Margaret was born in Omaha, Nebraska, into a musical family. She grew up singing and playing piano, violin, and viola at home with her sisters and parents, and at school. She continued her musical pursuits for her entire life, often saying that music kept her going. To this endeavor, she was attentive to the discipline of practice and rehearsal that music requires. Margaret was a dedicated member of vocal, chamber, musical theater, and symphonic groups in all the places she lived in her life, beginning in Nebraska, then Minnesota, and ending in California. She believed listening to other musicians was essential to being a musician. She devoted time to listening to music from her recorded collection, radio broadcasts, and by attending live performances. During her life, she was known to host chamber music in her homes, welcoming both novice and experienced musicians, true to the tradition passed down from her parents.
Valuing education, Margaret’s first job after college was as a teacher, teaching all eight grades in one-room schoolhouses in rural Nebraska. Her last job was as “Susan Page” at the Stanford Bookstore, handling all the special book orders that came across her desk. Margaret was an avid reader of fiction and nonfiction throughout her life, gaining knowledge through the act of reading. From a young age, she loved solving crosswords and other word puzzles, never tiring of this pastime. Margaret was fond of hand-written correspondence and wrote ever so many notecards and letters to all she knew, everyone knowing her legible Palmer-method penmanship, and her exceptional grammar and spelling. Her hands kept busy with embroidery and needlepoint, but mostly with ongoing knitting projects for her family, herself, many babies born to people she knew, and as donations to charities in need of knitted items. Social activities Margaret enjoyed were: playing cards, in particular Pinochle, playing Scrabble, and working jigsaw puzzles. She also liked travel and local adventures with family and friends.
As a hardworking individual, Margaret gave commitment to what she chose to do in life. She was a woman with a busy calendar that balanced family, work, music, travel, and social activities. She was known to be prepared and punctual, moving quickly with the purpose of getting things done. She had a calm and composed disposition. She was a reserved person and gave support through her steadfast presence and actions. Margaret lived a life of self-reliance with inner strengths guiding her through what life gave. She was curious and inquisitive about the world, often speaking the words “I wonder…” to start a thought.
Margaret was the central figure of her family. They remember her lovingly, as her door was always open for visits, and her thoughtfulness was unmatched. Margaret is survived by her son John (Barbara), daughter Janet, granddaughters Lesley (Brian), Raósame, and Lindsay, and great-granddaughters Aubrey and Alyanna. She is preceded in death by her parents Theodore and Zilpha, sisters Louise, Marcia, and Olive, former husband Robert, and son Steven.
In April 2025, Margaret passed away in Los Altos at the age of 103. To celebrate her centenarian life, her family arranged for a tree to be planted in her honor through the City of Los Altos “Commemorative Tree Program.” A Soquel Coast Redwood was chosen and planted in the Redwood Grove Nature Preserve, three blocks from the Orange Avenue home where Margaret lived the last 50 years of her life. While living in the neighborhood, Margaret and her family honored the lives of Robert and Steven in 2005 with the planting of two redwoods by the City of Los Altos in nearby Lincoln Parkway.
The Redwood Grove Nature Preserve provides a harmonious and peaceful location for Margaret’s redwood. Friends and family often described her home as such. The long-living evergreen, like Margaret’s life, stands and grows to connect past, present and future generations, and our place together in the universe.
