Margaret Rankin (1898-1978)

BOWMAN, BRACKEN, CLAREY, CLARY, FARRELL, HARRISON, HOULIHAN, RANKIN, STEILOW

Posted By: Eileen Reed (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:56

May 22, 1898 --- April 17, 1978

Margaret Rankin, society editor of the Eagle Grove EAGLE newspaper for the past 60 years, died Monday.

Funeral services will be tomorrow (Thursday) morning at 10:30 in the Sacred Heart Catholic Church with burial in the Calvary Cemetery. Rosary is tonight (Wednesday) at 8 p.m. at the Funeral Home. Father Norman White will officiate the services. Kastler-Babcock-DeYoung Funeral Home is in charge.

Miss Rankin died at the Rotary Ann Home Monday morning about 9:30 from the effects of cancer. She had spent seven weeks in a Rochester hospital before coming to the Rotary Ann Home on April 8.

She had just passed the milestone of having worked at the newspaper for 60 years on April 8. She would have been 80 years old on her birthday, May 22.

A 1916 graduate of Eagle Grove High School, she attended the Sacred Heart grade school and junior high school. She worked for a short time at the C. H. Duer general store, then at Latimer's general store before starting to work for the EAGLE April 8, 1918. She also sold tickets at the Princess Theatre in the evenings those early years.

Margaret was extremely active in the Iowa Press Women's organization, becoming its president in 1949 and served various offices prior to that. She was also a member of the Iowa Press Columnists.

Locally, she was a member of the Women's Club and served as president; a member of the A Sharp Music Club; secretary of the Eagle Grove Country Club; named outstanding women of the year by Beta Sigma Phi of which she became an honorary member. She was active in the Red Cross dating back to World War I. She was a member of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Eagle Grove.

At the newspaper she gained wide acclaim for her column "This Corner Has Heard" and her new innovation, the Rotary Ann Retirement Home column with news of the residents she visited every Sunday. She was presented the 50-year plaque in 1972 in recognition of at least 50 years of faithful service to the newspaper profession by the Iowa Press Association.

She is preceded in death by her parents. Her father Patrick, a pioneer railroader, died in 1907 when Margaret was only 9 years old. Her mother Minnie [Clary] died in 1956. Margaret lived with her mother in the house where she was born at 220 North Cadwell until she sold the home in 1976 and moved to an apartment. She was their only child.

Margaret is survived by several cousins including R. J. Clarey, Des Moines; Marguerite Harrison, Eldora; Admiral B. A. Clarey, Hawaii; Elizabeth Houlihan, Nashwa, N.H.; W. A. Clarey, Peoria, Ill.; Janice Bracken, Parmus, N.J.; Mrs. Kathryn Clarey, Oskaloosa; Amy Farrell, Davenport; Clara Steilow, Eldora; Katherine Bowman, St. Anthony.

Eagle Grove Eagle --- Eagle Grove, Iowa
April 19, 1978