Margaret Myers Baldwin
A Celebration of Margaret's Life will be held at Faith United Church of Christ, 1609 DeForest Ave. in Iowa City, Iowa on Saturday, May 4, 2013 at 2:00 p.m. Additional information will be announced on this webpage and via the Iowa City Press Citizen.
Margaret Myers Baldwin, age 95, formerly of Iowa City, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 11 in Bellingham, Washington.
She was born on January 15, 1917 in North Liberty, Iowa to Logan and Bess Myers. Margaret had one brother, Lloyd Myers (Norma) deceased.
She graduated from University High School in Iowa City, attended Whittier College in Whittier, California, for two years before graduating from the University of Iowa.
Margaret lived in Des Moines, Iowa, for many years where she was a teacher. She lived for two years in Washington, Iowa, where she taught English and then returned to Des Moines to continue her career, teaching at East High School and North High School. She was a pioneer in Special Education and the Work-Study program.
During those years, Margaret became involved in the local American Federation of Teachers serving as the secretary. She was involved in the local civil rights movement and a member of the Common Cause, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and the Democratic Party where she met Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern. She was proud to be a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union.
She retired from teaching and moved to Iowa City in the early 1980's, where she became involved in the University Club, Faith United Church of Christ, and The Great Peace March where she enjoyed meeting and traveling with Pete Seeger. She also participated in The American-Soviet Peace Walk, and was a member of several bridge clubs.
She loved to travel, enjoying a summer trip to Europe with her family and later participated in a peace journey to Belgium and Elderhostel trips to Costa Rica, Alaska and Spain. She traveled to the former Soviet Union with a Presbyterian Church group and later experienced homestays in the Soviet Union in St. Petersburg and Tallinn, Estonia, with her granddaughter. Margaret especially enjoyed many summers staying with friends at their cabin in the Catskills in up-state New York near the town of Margaretville. She loved the times walking with them in the hills and traveling into New York City to attend the theatre.
Margaret moved to Bellingham, Washington to be close to her daughter and son-in-law, Martie and Byron Olson. She resided at Highgate Senior Living where she made many friends, lived a full and active life, and was known as the Champion Wii Bowler. She was a busy person, enjoying word games, visiting musicians, painting, tai chi, High Tea, and serving as a reading buddy to an early reader from the neighboring school. She appreciated the temperate climate, fascinating clouds, variety of always-green trees, and view of snow-capped mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
A portion of Margaret's nomination for her 2000 award as Laywoman of the Year for the Iowa Conference of the United Church of Christ, illuminates her life:
"Margaret's work writes itself as a personal history of the modern civil rights movement and the ongoing struggle to bring peace to a divided and prejudicial world..."
"...Margaret still teaches by her acts, manifesting a strength of character without a hint of dominance, evincing a sweetness of purpose..."
"...it is not Margaret's voice that one hears, it is her insistent footsteps leading to forgotten people and ignored needs."
– David Gebhard
Margaret is survived by two children, Thomas Alan Baldwin (Chris Conyers) and his former wife Sharon Baldwin in Des Moines, Iowa, and Mary Beth (Martie) Olson (Byron) formerly of Iowa City, Iowa, currently living in Bellingham; five grandchildren, Tom Baldwin Jr. (Annie), Cindy Baldwin (eric creach), Sean Olson (Brandy), Jamie Olson (deceased), Amy Olson, and Elle Conyers; seven great-grandchildren.
Margaret enjoyed reading … playing bridge … cats ... Rick … her old Plymouth that she named Carrie … Ann and David … the fun and dry humor of her father … drawings from her great-grandson … Bill Moyers ... Barack Obama … collecting antiques … mardi gras beads … baking cookies … dancing on the table … Younkers Tea Room … hot chocolate … tea parties … Michael … the challenge of thermostats … gifting quilts … POGO...her new friend John … blue … Louise … forget-me-nots … Joan Baez … The New Yorker … Dale and Ken … climbing the windmill … salmon … chocolate Cokes … Phyllis … her great grandson's recipe for toasted cheese sandwiches … Perry Como … playing shoe store with her granddaughter … Tegler's gas station … Clair … paperwhites in a hand thrown pot … glittery cat pin ... grandson's sense of humor … and all of you!
Memorial donations may be sent to: Faith United Church of Christ 1609 DeForest Ave. Iowa City, IA 52240
Memories
From David Fitzgerald
Margaret, a dear friend to me and so many, will forever be in my heart. She cared and loved with with grace and wit, she knowledgably spoke with intelligence and conviction, and she embraced life's joys and challenges with strength and engagement. She graced the earth with adorable style in her quest for justice and peace. Lastly, she loved my rhubarb pie.
From eric creach
i hope to share the love she shared with us to everyone i can. she was a radical, simply sweet and filled with compassion.
All of us within my family will always honor her kindness.
From Louise Westfall
Margaret was simply one of a very few people who leave indelible fingerprints on your soul. She was an inspiring and tireless peacemaker and justice seeker, who "kept on keeping on" no matter what. Her wry sense of humor and witty social commentary provoked smiles and diffused the gloom. But I also remember the way she befriended me through some heartbreaking times. I will cherish all of these traits and memories of the time our lives intersected at Faith United Church of Christ, and will hold her in my heart always. WIth love and prayers for her family.
From eric creach
i always would play at her house and she enjoyed stuff i brought and she raised my mom for some years but she loved me, my family and everyone.
submitted by Logan Creach.
From Clare Smith-Larson
For Martie and Byron, Tom, Sr., Chris and Sharon, she was an inspiration to me. As eric's mom, I considered her a good friend even though I didn't see her often. I had no idea of the depth of her involvement with Civil Rights and all the other things she did. I knew she had been a teacher and a good one. I knew her to be unfailing in her love for her family and to be gentle and caring. But, wow!!!
For Cindy, eric, Amy, Shawn and Elie, she was the best grandma ever. You know you were all SO blessed to have her.
For my Gus, Alice and Logan: I will promise to live up to Grama Margie's example and for each great-grandchild you give me, I will do my best to be just a shadow of her wonderful self. I feel like I got her ideals by osmosis, even though I didn't know about them directly. I'm sure she and Grama Jessie Cutler would have gotten on famously and Grama Libby and Maggie too. Who knows, maybe they are all up in heaven now playing bridge and watching us down here in the snow.
From john myers
after reading so much I did "t know about Aun't Margaret i understand why I liked her. I learned to feel like she did about so many things'and I didn't know how, she never made me feel like I was being taught.Thankyou .John Myers
From john myers
thanks Aunt Margaret.
From Ann Zerkel
As Margaret's Celebration of Life approaches, I am thinking of her more and more - and I realize that I was first drawn to Margaret, and remained drawn to Margaret, because of her indomitable spirit. Her natural enthusiasm for life was infectious: whether she was explaining the merits of pacifism or suggesting that we take a drive to get ice cream cones, Margaret was fully and recklessly alive, and I felt more alive in her presence.
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