by Ann Beattie
Margaret’s family remembers her birthday today. Born in Moosomin, Saskatchewan 1912 Nov 12 to a family who immigrated in 1905, leaving behind one of many political upheavals Hungary in, Margaret told us she spoke little English when she started school.
She was raised on a farm with her 8 siblings. After leaving school, she moved to Winnipeg to live with her married older sister, Teresa, and attended The Success Business College, a secretarial school. Dave has a copy of a certificate stating Margaret Kimery completed a shorthand examination on 1930 Oct 31. He would often grin and tell me Margaret used shorthand to make notes to herself which, of course, none of her children could interpret!
After business college, Margaret moved west to live with her school teacher sister, Rose Watson. It was in this region Margaret later met Thomas Leslie Beattie. They were eventually married and raised six children starting in the Ghost area sawmills and the damn and eventually moving to a home in Cochrane.
We all remember Margaret’s beautiful cursive writing which can still be found in books on the shelves of some Nan Boothby Memorial Library. Margaret was best friends with Nancy Boothby who lived across the street and with Emily Lathwell whose husband, Bill, had met and worked with Tom. Margaret helped originate the Library and volunteered in its various venues for 38 years. Margaret and Emily were a team who frequently handled the cash check-in at various Cochrane events over the years. I thought of them recently when my family attended the annual St. Andrews United Church Turkey Supper. They were a staple at that event.
Margaret lived a difficult life, losing Tom to a long battle with lung cancer when he was in his mid-forties and Tim was not yet two years old. I will always remember her immaculate home and the daily newspaper spread on her kitchen table after the day’s chores were done. Many an infant slept on that table, sharing it with her newspaper or a book. She was a voracious reader for her entire life.
To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.
