|
|
|
|
|
Margaret Hope McVey |
PDF
|
| Print |
|
E-mail
|
|
by Family
|
|
Friday, October 24, 2008 |
The uniquely kind and gentle spirit of Margaret Hope McVey passed away of pneumonia Oct. 21.
An Alaska Native Sisterhood, Alaska Native Brotherhood service will be held noon Saturday, Oct. 25, at the First Presbyterian Church. A memorial service will be 1 p.m., with a reception to follow, also at the church.
Margaret was born July 22, 1919, at Chatham cannery, one of 13 children of Andrew and Tillie (Howard) Hope. Her Tlingit name was Suh-kee-khun, Kus-tah-klah. She was a Kiksadi of the Raven moiety, and the Y'aaka Hit (Point House).
Margaret was a lifelong resident, having left Sitka for only brief periods during her 89 years.
She graduated from Sheldon Jackson in 1936, and left by steamship for Ellensburg, Wash., where she majored in education at Central Washington University.
After graduation she served in the American Red Cross before returning to Sitka, where she began her extensive teaching career.
She taught for the Bureau of Indian Affairs' Mt. Edgecumbe High School as well as serving as a substitute teacher at Sheldon Jackson High School. She also taught many children from the ``Village'' at the Front Street School before Baranof Elementary School was built. After years as a teacher, she became librarian for the elementary schools until her retirement.
After her marriage to Bob Petro in 1949, she took time away from her profession to raise their four children. With Bob's wonderful carpentry skills, they built their home on Erler Street, overlooking Sitka Channel.
The two divorced in 1968, and she later married Bill McVey.
Until Bill's death in 1997, one of the McVeys' favorite activities was fishing aboard the Myrth. Bill enjoyed preparing his impressive meals, and they loved entertaining friends.
Margaret was active in community affairs. She helped establish the Sitkans Against Family Violence shelter, was on the Salvation Army advisory board and, from 1980 to 1987, was a member of the Shee Atika Inc. board.
She also was a member of the Democratic party, and the National Education Association, among other organizations.
After years of managing to maintain her independent living, in November 2003, Margaret entered the Pioneers Home, where she quietly and courageously accepted, with dignity, the limitations brought about by advancing Parkinson's disease.
Her humor and warmth brought her many friends, and she was loved and admired by her children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, siblings and friends. Her passing will not diminish that, her family wrote. ``Mom was an exemplary woman.''
Margaret was preceded in death by her brothers John, Alfred (Willard), Herb, Robert, Jimmy and Tom; and sisters Vivian, Agnes and Josephine.
She is survived by her children, Marcia Bradley (Mike Lupro), Bellevue, Wash., Steve Petro (Pam) of Sitka, Lisa Killinger (Greg) of Craig, and Donald Petro of Sitka; grandchildren Marc Bradley of Thailand, DeAnna Waisanen of Wasilla, and Alex and Sam Petro of Sitka.
The great-grandchildren are Navaeh Hope Bradley of Bellevue, Khayree Petro of Sitka and Miliah Waisanen of Wasilla.
Her surviving siblings are Ellen Hope Hays of Bainbridge Island, Wash., Percy Hope of Juneau, and Fred Hope, Sitka.
She also is survived by numerous nieces and nephews and great-nieces and -nephews.
Honorary pallbearers will be Elenor Van Pelt, Ethel Staton, Ce Higley, Herb and Polly Didrickson, Fred Hope, Percy Hope and Ellen Hays.
|
|
|
