Sunday, March 03, 2013

Gramma





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Margaret H. McPhail
FAYETTEVILLE - Mrs. Margaret Hamilton McPhail passed away Friday, Feb. 22, 2013. She was born to the late Augustus Hamilton Sr. and Nellie Osowsky Hamilton on Nov. 4, 1920, in Camp Sherman, Ohio. She was a devoted wife and mother who spent the majority of her life as an Army wife. in her words, “I’m an Army brat myself, and I have a house full of them.”  One of the greatest joys of her life was to have lived in Hawaii for five years as a child. She spoke of this wonderful experience often. She was preceded in death by her husband, Retired Chief Warrant Officer 4 Quincy E. McPhail; a brother, Augustus Hamilton, Jr.; a sister, Augusta McLeod; and a daughter, Barbara Jo Teller. She leaves behind to cherish her memory: Sons, Gus McPhail and his wife, Linda, of Fayetteville, Bob McPhail of Tijuana, Mexico, and Bill McPhail of the home; daughters, Kathy Degarmo of Fayetteville and Gail Bowden and her husband Bill, of Garner; sisters, Natalie Allen of Star and Helen] White of Pensacola, Fla., brother Bob Hamilton of Lavaca, Ark.; eight grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; and six great-great-grandchildren. Services will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, in Sullivan’s Highland Funeral Service & Crematory in Fayetteville. Visitation will be from 2 to 3 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. Services entrusted to Sullivan’s Highland Funeral Services & Crematory of Fayetteville.
Published in Fayetteville Observer from February 24 to February 26, 2013
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This past week has been difficult, emotionally. We laid to rest my grandmother whom I was very close to as she raised me from the time I was nine months old and I lived in her house for the majority of my life. While history may not remember the name Margaret McPhail, those of us who loved her always will. She didn’t invent anything, nor write any famous books, but she was, by my estimation a great woman. She did something that was truly great - she raised a family. The art of the “housewife” is a dying profession. She lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Korean Conflict, and the Vietnam War. She almost single handedly raised a brood of children while either constantly having to move around when her husband was restationed to a new base, or while he was overseas fighting for his country. She did it all with love and patience and during a time with there weren’t high tech gadgets to help. She loved her family, unconditionally and took care of all of us her entire life.

As I said, she may not have invented or written anything, but she accomplished something just as great by being a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, and even a great-great-grandmother and making sure we were all loved and cared for all of us.

I miss you Gramma.

~ JC

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