Margarete Johnson

Her Eulogy

This is the eulogy read at Margarete's funeral. I wrote this with plenty of help. It is edited to protect the privacy of those persons still living.

Margarete was the second child born to Archie and Irene Johnson. She was born on the second day of January in 1924. She lived on Burger Street as a small child and was baptized in a Church of Christ near there. She liked to tell us about how the floor of the preachers' stage opened up to a baptismal underneath.

Margarete adored her older sister Dorothy. She would sit every day on an old chest and stare out of the front window waiting for her sister to come home. One day Dorothy learned how to read in school. She came home that same day and taught Margarete to read. Not much longer there was a family day at her school. The point of this day was to show off to the families everything the children were learning in school. The children were all lined up and Margarete sat right next to her big sister. A book was passed down the line and each of the students took their turns reading a page from the book. When the book reached Margarete, she read a page just like the other students. The teacher was so amazed that such a small child could read that she took Margarete to every classroom in the school and made her read for them all.

Margarete was very tiny. She was a petite 5' 1". We still have many letters Margarete wrote to her sister who was away at college. Most of these were about Margarete gushing about going out to jitterbug. All the guys asked her to dance since she was so tiny and light.

After she graduated from Forrester High School, she attended Draughons Business College and she became a memeber of the Alpha Iota chapter of the Epsilon Sigma Alpha sorority.

During World War II the government asked that everyone work to help win the war. The Johnson family did just that. Margarete's father closed down their business and went to work for the army transport command at Camp Swift, Texas. Dorothy went to work at an airplane factory and Margarete and her mother made rubber gas tanks for the airplanes. During the war, Margarete met a soldier named Glynn Simmons who was on leave. They corresponded regularly. Apparently Glynn had fallen in love because when his service was up, he had a choice to go back to his home in Arkansas or go to Dallas. He chose Dallas, and Glynn and Margarete were married on the 30th of March in 1946. They had 3 children; a son and two daughters.

Margarete and Glynn were very involved in the Garland Road Church of Christ. Glynn maintained the church and even painted the steeple and Margarete taught the two year old Sunday school class.

Margarete worked at Texas Instruments and retired after 20 years. Throughout her years of working there, TI would have many lay-offs. One time everyone in her department, including her boss, was layed-off except for her. Her job was a key punch operator. On her last day of work, her key punch machine burned up. Since the key punch machine was becoming obsolete, when she retired, they never replaced her position.

Holidays were very special to Margarete. She added her own special touch to each one. On Easter she would make all her grandchildren a paper Easter basket with jellybeans inside. On Thanksgiving she would always have slices of cheese in the shape of turkeys. Everyone's favorite day was Christmas. She'd make her two granddaughters matching Christmas dresses every year and every year she'd make special Christmas ornaments from dollar bills. Everyone remembers her dollar ornaments. We all couldn't wait till the next Christmas to see what she would make. It was something different every year. One of the most memorable was a train set. Everyone got their own box car. Another year she made stockings out of the money and hung them on a string in front of the fire place and everyone got their own stocking. She never forgot to give all the pets in the family Christmas presents as well.

She was a sweet mother, grandmother, aunt, and friend; and we will all miss her.

Margarete Slideshow