Margaret Blaine McDowell 1923-2004

REGNAT, BLAINE, MCDOWELL

Posted By: michael (email)
Date: 4/2/2004 at 14:06:57

Margaret Blaine McDowell, formerly of Iowa City and a resident of Des Moines, died Thursday, April 1, 2004 at Mercy Hospice in Johnston, Iowa of pancreatic cancer.

Memorial services will be held Monday, April 5, 2004 at 2PM at Central Presbyterian Church in Des Moines with Rev. Jan Scott officiating.
Memorial Services will also be held on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 at 10:30AM at Lensing Funeral and Cremation Service in Iowa City with Rev. Ed Morgan officiating. Burial will be at Memory Gardens Cemetery, Iowa City.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to First Presbyterian Church in Iowa City or Central Presbyterian Church in Des Moines. Arrangements are with Lensing Funeral and Cremation Service.

Margaret Blaine McDowell was born August 8, 1923 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the daughter of John and Eva “Etta” Regnat Blaine. Margaret was raised in Cedar Rapids, where she attended Coe College. During college, Margaret received a B.A. degree in English and Zoology in 1944. After college Margaret taught English at Marion High School until 1946.

Margaret taught English at the collegiate level at MacMurray College for Women in Jacksonville, Illinois until 1948 and at Kansas State University in Pittsburg, Kansas until 1953. Margaret left Pittsburg in 1953 to marry Frederick PW McDowell, an English Professor at the University of Iowa. Margaret continued her professional career by securing a Ph.D degree in English at The University of Iowa in 1954.

Margaret became a devoted mother to five children born between 1955 and 1962: Steven, Gloria, Larry, Katherine, and Elizabeth. In 1967 Margaret resumed her career as a Professor of English at the University of Iowa. Margaret was an enthusiastic teacher of graduate and undergraduate students of English and Rhetoric. In 1973 Margaret became the first chair of the University of Iowa’s Women Studies Program. Margaret wrote a number of essays on women authors and she authored books on Carson McCullers and Edith Wharton. Margaret received special recognition from the Edith Wharton Society for her work with this author.

For several years Margaret served as a volunteer for the Iowa City Crisis Center. Margaret was also an active member of the Presbyterian church in Iowa City and Des Moines. Margaret and Fred traveled together on several trips to England and continental Europe. Following her retirement in 1993, Margaret and Fred traveled extensively throughout the Midwest and Pacific Northwest visiting their children and grandchildren.

Margaret is survived by her husband, Frederick of Des Moines; her children, Steven (Kiahann) of Hazel Crest, Illinois, Gloria Sodt (John) of Bellingham, Washington, Larry (Jane) of Des Moines, Iowa, Katherine (Ken Lerner) of Portland, Oregon and Elizabeth (Rolf Pepple) of Prospect, Kentucky; sixteen grandchildren, ages nineteen and younger; and one brother, Russell Blaine of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents, one brother, Robert and two sisters, Arlene and Jeanette.

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