Mrs. Margaret Elizabeth Rankine Baxter

BAXTER – Margaret Elizabeth “Peggy”, age 76, Digby, NS passed away peacefully on Wednesday April 16, 2008 at Tideview Terrace where she had been a resident with her late husband, Murray, for several years. Born in Fredericton, New Brunswick, she was a daughter of the late Margaret A. (Hodgson) and James Rankine. Before coming to Digby, she resided in Yarmouth. In her early working years, she was a teller with the Bank of Nova Scotia, Digby. Later she was a member of the staff of the Digby Pines for many years. She was a member of the Trinity Anglican Church, Digby. Before becoming a resident at Tideview Terrace, Peggy was a volunteer at the Bethany Bargain Bin. Peggy always welcomed into her home the many friends of her sons from hockey and ball teams where they could count on having a good meal before a game. Peggy was predeceased by Murray Baxter, her husband of 55 years on January 3, 2008. She is survived by sons James (Sarah), Winnipeg; Bruce (Laura), Oromocto; grandchildren, Jamie and Margaret, Winnipeg; Matthew, Oromocto; Becky and Stacey, Hoyt NB; Graham, Dayton, Ohio USA; Nicole Lewis, Charlottetown, PEI; two great-grandchildren, Gage and Noah, Hoyt NB; sister Barbara (Bruce) White, Charlottetown, PEI and several nieces and nephews. Besides her parents and husband, she was predeceased by her two oldest sons Murray and Graham; also brothers James Ronald Rankine and Wilfred Rankine; and sisters Mildred Jones and Gloria McInnis. Family visitation will be held Saturday, April 19, 7 – 9 p.m. and public visitation will be held Sunday, April 20, 2 - 4 p.m. and 7 – 9 p.m. at Jayne’s Funeral Home. Funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday, April 21, at Jayne’s Funeral Home, Digby, Rev. Donald Robertson officiating. Interment in Forest Hills Cemetery, officiated by Father William Burt. Family flowers only. Donations may be made in Peggy’s memory to the Canadian Diabetes Association.

2008 has been a very hard year so far, for Bruce and his brother Jim, and also for our families. The New Year started off with the passing of our Dad in January and now our Mom. I would like to thank you all for coming and giving your sopport in kind workds and love to our families.

Our Mom was a very special lady who had a beautiful smile and a kind heart. She was also very proud of her boys, Murray, Graham, Jim and Bruce.

Murray being the oldest was the glue who held the family together. He would mend all of our diputes over BBQ's, and no matter the weather he would tell Mom and Dad that he was coming over.

Graham always had the charm and he would get Mom to make him his favorite meals almost every night.

Jim, although he seemed fierce on the outside has the biggest heart and he would always make sure that both Mom and Dad were taken care of. He has been the backbone for our family during everything that we've been through. We thank you and love you that.

And then there is Bruce who is the spoiled one, and the baby of the family. He was the Mama's Boy.

Our Mom was a very special lady who had experienced some of life's setbacks. She lost almost all of her hearing in her youth but she had no problem in hearing and knowing what was going on with her sons.

Mom was very proud of her grandchildren and she had a lot of love to give each and every one of them. This was evident as the fridge would be stocked with prickles, pop, cheese, bologna and ice cream whenever she knew they were comming over.

She was a great regulator when it came to card playing so Dad wouldn't take all or our nickels and pennies every summer.

She especially loved her 2 great grandchildern Gage and Noah. These children could do no wrong in her eyes and heaven forbid if someone did anything to them - it would be Super Nanny to the rescue.

These past couple of months both Bruce and Jim had watched the light in her eyes diminish after Dad left this world. She is now with our brothers and Dad in God's beautiful garden.

Both Bruce and Jim have many great memories of our Mom. They remember when they used to go and pick blueberies down in the south side of town by the railroad tracks. Jim and his Mom would be collecting pints of berries while Burce ate more then he collected. I'm sure that Burce would insist that there were not very many on his bushes, but I think the blue face gave him away.

One time Bruce found a hornet's nest, stirred it up and laughted as he watched Jim get chased and stung by them. Poor Mom - but he was the baby of the family...isn't that right Mom. The things that she dealt with....

I'm sure a lot of you have fond memories of Peggy and as Daughter's - in - law Sarah and I do too!

When Mom first met Sarah and baby Margaret she welcomed them into her heart with open arms. She considered herself to be Sarah's Mom for the past 28 years. She was proud to have sent Jim on his way up north, and prouder still when he found a great wife. Later Mom was blessed with a grandson James Jr.

When I came in to the picture, Bruce was going through Basic training so she would invite me over on Friday afternoons. We would pick out an exotic recipe from one of the gossip magazines that she would love to read. We would get some ingredients, make it up and watch a Girlie movie together. I suppose that she didn't have a chace to watch too many of these with boys around. And then we would wait for Bruce to call.

Today I see a lot of close and dear friends and family and again I would like to thank you on behalf of Burce and Jim and our families.

Thank you for coming and celebrating the life of our Mom, Margaret Elizabeth. We love you Mom and we are going to you greatly. You will alsays be in our hearts.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Margaret Baxter, greand-daughter and name-sake of my grandmother, for whick I'm very proud of.

My grandmother was a wonderful person, kind-hearted and generous. Above all else, her family mattered more to her then anything else in the world. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for her family. This value "family" is instilled into my well-being by my grandmother. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for my family. It is carried among all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Some of my most memorable moment in childhood were spending every summer visiting my grandparents, uncles and aunts, and of course my cousins. As children, we would play childish games like playing house as a family of squirrels in the maple tree at the side of my grandparents, house. My grandmother loved all of us. I remember she used to spend a great deal of time cooking wonderful meals for her family. One time she spent most of the day making turkey and all the fixing on a hot, typical summer day. Just for her grandchildren.....and of course, her specialty: Strawberry Rhubarb pie. That was on thing my grandmother loved to do was cook for her family. She also loved to read, do cross word puzzles and go on trips to see various treasures of Nova Scotia. One of her favorite places was Mavillette Beach. We would spend the day taking long walks along the beach, go swimming in the ocean. At night, back at my grandparents' house, we would pitch a tent in the backyard and my grandfather would come out with his "trusty" plastic shull and tell ghost stories to all of us, grandchildren. He'd pull his shirt over his head and start making ghoulish faces while he'd go on with is storytellign about werewolves, vampires, and such. I remember my grandmother half-joking telling Grampy to quit scaring her grandchildren.

I speak on behalf of all of the grandchildren and great-granchildren on saying good-bye to both our grandparents. We love them dearly and will miss them. I know they are proud of every one of us and will be watching over us. I would like to thank you all for coming her today and supporting the family.