Margaret (Wagner) MEYER

MEYER, RUST, WAGNER, VALKENNAR, BUNJER, MAYOR, WHEELDREYER, OTTEN, HEEREN, HULSING, SPELLMEYER, PEARSON, YANCEY, FONTANA, WIESE, ROWLEY, CARTER, WAITE, DOW, DEJA, WOODS, CLINE, CARLSON, KALVIG

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 10/5/2007 at 22:59:10

Margaret Meyer, 97, Belmond, died Sept. 27, 2007. Services were held October 1 at Calvary Baptist Church in Belmond with Rev. Gary Schnieder officiating. Burial was in the Belmond Cemetery. Margaret accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior in June 1935. She was the last charter member of the Belmond Tabernacle on Highway 69. The first service of the new formed church was October 20, 1940, which is now called Calvary Baptist.

Margaret was born to Wilhelm and Ann (Rust) Wagner on May 16, 1910 in Chancellor, SD. When Margaret was five her family moved to North Dakota to farm wheat. Her father died in 1919 from influenza. After that, Margaret and her family moved back to Chancellor. Margaret's mother passed away in June, 1927 before her senior year of high school. Margaret then moved into the home of Dr. Valkennar. She did housekeeping chores in exchange for room and board. After high school graduation in 1928, Margaret worked different jobs. She did cooking and cleaning for different families for room and board. After that she and a friend worked at a grocery store, Tjaden, in Davis, SD. This is where she met her future husband, Theodore Meyer. Theodore and a friend would come to the store at closing to see if they could drive the girls home from work. Theodore was working for a farmer, Sill Smith, and Margaret would go out to the farm on weekends while Theodore was doing chores. The Smiths had five boys and one girl. They thought Margaret would be a good wife for one of their boys. The Smith family hired Margaret and her friend to do housework. Margaret left the Smith farm for three weeks to help her sister, Minnie. Minnie tried to line Margaret up with a friend of hers, but she was not interested. Margaret married Theodore Meyer on April 12, 1930 at Germantown Presbyterian Parsonage in Chancellor. As a married couple, they continued to work on the Smith farm for another year. They moved to a farm where they rented a quarter; a crop share lease with a pasture. They only farmed for one year because it was so dry. Their first son, Alfred was born on this farm in May 1931. They moved to Hooker, a small town where Theodore would work any job he could find. Then they moved to Lennox where Margaret would work for her sister-in-law Rose Bunjer while Ted worked for a creamery. Their second son, Vernon, was born in March 1935 while living in Lennox. December 8, 1936 Margaret and her sons Alfred and Vernon went to Belmond while Theodore and brother-in-law Martin were looking for work in Minnesota. Margaret and her sons stayed with Martin and Rose Bunjer before her third child, Gary, was born. Margaret and Theodore were only going to stay in Belmond for a short time, but Theodore got a job driving truck for Thompson Seed Company. They rented a large home on the west side of Belmond on the hill. Their first daughter, Beverly, was born at this home. Margaret and Theodore purchased two lots on 7th Street and moved a house onto the property. As Theodore continued to improve the home, four more children were added to the family: Roger, Richard, Fern and Marjorie. In 1959, after half of the family was raised, they purchased the house on 3rd Street. In 1960 Margaret found out she had arthritis in her hips as well as her hands. She revived her crocheting skills to keep her hands nimble. When Margaret and Theodore reached retirement age, they would winter with their sons in Louisiana. Margaret and Theodore celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on April 12, 1980. Later that year, Margaret's greatest life challenge took place with the loss of her beloved husband on September 16. In the fall of 1980 Margaret moved to the triplex on Main Street. She would pass her time with three main hobbies: crocheting, reading her Bible and other books, and watching sports on television. She lived in this home until the last several weeks of her life, which were spent in the hospital.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents; husband; grandchildren Jill Mae Meyer, Leslie Alan Meyer, Keith Alan Meyer and Stephen Mayor; brothers Herbert and John Wagner; sisters Minnie Wheeldreyer and Gertie Otten; brothers-in-law Mike Wheeldreyer, Elzo Otten and Laverne Heeren; and sisters-in-law Hannah Wagner and Johanna Wagner.
Left to cherish her memory are her children Alfred (Maxine) Meyer of Lake Arthur, LA, Vernon (Carolyn) Meyer of West Lake, LA, Gary (Mardell) Meyer of Belmond, Beverly (Vernon) Hulsing of Mason City, Roger (Linda) Meyer of Goodell, Richard (Loree) Meyer of Sulphur, LA, Fern (Mark) Spellmeyer of Clarion, and Marjorie (Stan) Pearson of Waukee; Grandchildren LeaAnn (Matthew) Yancey of Fort Worth, TX, Kirk Meyer of Houston, TX, Linda Mayor of Lake Arthur, LA, Ted (Dede) Meyer of Lake Arthur, LA, Tijie (David) Fontana of West Lake, Timothy (Darla) Meyer of Lake Charles LA, Vernon Christopher (Carla) Meyer of West Lake, Bruce (Robin) Meyer of Rowan, Craig (Mary) Meyer of Lake Villa, IL, Michael (Cindy) Meyer of Clear Lake, Michelle (Norman) Wiese of Mason City, Mark (Chris) Hulsing of Northwood, Melissa (John) Rowley of Phoenix, AZ, Ryan Meyer of Goodell, Andrea (David) Carter of Lafayette, LA, Allison Waite of Sulfur, Meghan (Kent) Dow of Sedalia, MO, Tracy (Matthew) Deja of Grand Rapids, MI, Scott (Krista) Pearson of Des Moines, and Brent (Jill) Pearson of Minneapolis; Great-grandchildren Stuart and Spencer Yancey of Fort Worth, Lacey and Rayce Mayor of Lake Arthur, Autumn Elizabeth Woods of Lake Arthur, Whitney Cline of West Lake, Garhett, Kasey and Shane Fontana of West Lake, Dominque, Amberly, Cameron and Gabriel Meyer of Lake Charles, Brennan, Brooke and Brock Meyer of West Lake, Ginny (Tate) Carter of Nevada, Jeffrey and Eric Meyer of Rowan, Kelly and Kevin Meyer of Lake Villa, Miranda and Kaley Meyer of Clear Lake, Margaret and Abigail Wiese of Mason City, M.J., Erica and Alex Hulsing of Northwood, Rochelle and Allyson Carlson of Northwood, Madeline and Mallory Rowley of Phoenix, Alexandra and Caroline Carter of Lafayette, Brittny Waite of Sulphur, Brady and Kennedy Dow of Sedalia, and Aaron, Jaden and Ryan Deja of Grand Rapids, MI; great-great grandchildren Ethan, Dillian and Drew Elizabeth of Lake Arthur and Alexis Kalvig of Northwood; and sister Sophie Heeren of Chancellor.

October 2, 2007
©Belmond Independent 2007