ROBERTS, Margaret Emma (VALE) 1878-1953
ROBERTS, VALE, BIDDLE, WINSLOW, TEDFORD
Posted By: Betty Hootman-Volunteer
Date: 3/22/2014 at 11:58:45
Margaret E. Roberts
Margaret Emma Roberts, youngest daughter of Benjamin and Julia Biddle Vale, was born in Harrisburg Township, on the family farm north of Bonaparte, Iowa, on August 16, 1878. She died at the Laughlin hospital in Kirksville, Mo., at 7:10 Wednesday evening, Oct. 14, 1953, where she had been taken that morning from her home in Bonaparte, following a mesenteric embolism and coronary thrombosis. Her age was 75 years, one month and 29 days.
Her early years were spent in the Vale home on the east side of Bonaparte, which was built when she was a young girl. She was graduated from Bonaparte high school with the class of 1896, and taught the primary department of the Bonaparte school for four years, from 1897 through 1901.
She was united in marriage to Albert G. Roberts, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt H. Roberts of Keosauqua, Iowa on August 16, 1900.
For the first two years she was teaching by the side of her husband, who was superintendent of the school. In 1901 they purchased the local newspaper, and for many years thereafter, was an almost full time worker along with him in the publication of the Bonaparte Record. Finally, when the prosperity of the newspaper permitted it, she was able to spend more of her time on other activities.
A woman of great energy and ability, she led many careers. Next to the newspaper and the home, perhaps her greatest interest was in the Presbyterian church of Bonaparte, where she was throughout her life a principle worker in both church and Sunday School. She made a study _____cut off_____ taking the Moody Bible Course. She wrote a great deal, both for the Record and non-journalistic work. A major hobby was the botanical study of the wild flowers of the region. She remained a lifelong teacher, on call as a substitute at school, surrounded by groups of children, taking great interest in her Sunday School classes.
On May 14 last, she received her 25-year certificate from the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the U. S. which she had served as a salesman. With the installation of birth and death registration, she became the local registrar and continued throughout her life. She was a guid8ing spirit of the Bonaparte W. C. T. U., of the Sunshine Society, of which she was a charter member, and the Ladies’ Aid. In all of this activity she loved her home town of Bonaparte, which she seldom left even to travel, and from the east side of which she was never removed for any great length of time.
Her energy extended to what seemed still another career, in caring for the sick, the invalided, the elderly, both in her own and her husband’s family and in the town. Her ability to reach out under any circumstances to yet one more case of illness or need seemed inexhaustible.
Her husband preceded her in death on Sept. 7 of last year, after a protracted illness which drained much of her strength. She had been feeling improved, however, and had returned to many of her activities, when the end came suddenly.
Mr. and Mrs. Roberts were the parents of two children, Vale, now Mrs. Robert W. Winslow of Bonaparte. And Rex A. Roberts of Groton, Mass. There are also five grandchildren: Anne Winslow of Bonaparte, and Bromley, Bruce, Sheldon and Jessica Roberts of Massachusetts.
She was the third of four children, with the other three surviving: Mrs. Regina V. Tedford of Mount Aye, Iowa; Mary B. Vale of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; Bruce R. Vale of Harrisburg Township.
Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Bonaparte Presbyterian Church with the Rev. C. F. McMican officiating, assisted by the Rev. H. C. Irvine of Birmingham. Music was by Mr. and Mrs. Glen Williams of Keosauqua, accompanied by Mrs. C. F. McMican. Burial was in the Vale cemetery north of Bonaparte.
Source: Scrapbook of Unknown Origin, page 113
Van Buren Obituaries maintained by Rich Lowe.
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