Margaret Elizabeth Page Huffman

Mrs. Huffman, 87, passed away Thursday, November 6, 2014, in Hospice care at the Davis Health Care Center. She was in the company of her loving family. Born on October 8, 1927, in Clarksville, Tennessee, she was the youngest of five children of Charles Cleveland and Margaret Wilson Page. A graduate of Austin Peay State University with a degree in biology, she continued graduate studies in the sciences at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Her early career involved time at the Nielson Company in Chicago, Illinois. She was married in 1955 and moved throughout the southeast, living in Florida and Portsmouth, Virginia, then moving to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and finally to Wilmington in 2013. Those who knew her speak of Mrs. Huffman's extraordinary gifts of kindness, gentleness and selfless giving. She had a thoughtful way of making others feel special. Her talents extended to sewing, creating children's and women's clothing and home decorations. She had the gift of a green thumb, enjoying planting and gardening. She loved animals and, as a child, practiced her hand at veterinary science to heal a lamb's broken leg, tease the chickens in the farmyard, and help the various cows, dogs and cats. Later her interests extended to the business world and investments. Raised in the Methodist church, she was very active in the Episcopal Church for most of her adult life. Her greatest talent was as a loving, warm mother who encouraged curiosity and exploration, imagination, love of the arts, and the value of always doing one's best. She is preceded in death by her brothers Harold Page, Haggard Page, and Thomas Page and sister Mary Frances Sandifer. She is survived by her husband The Reverend Robert N. Huffman, daughter Dr. Mary McClain and her husband Peter, and her two granddaughters, Margaret Page and Anna Hunter McClain and, through son-in-law Peter, two granddaughters, Erin McClain Huslage and Jennifer McClain Prosser, Erin's husband Kirk Huslage, Jennifer's husband Chad Prosser, and five great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Sara Page, five nieces, five nephews, and numerous grandnieces and nephews. A service to honor and celebrate Mrs. Huffman's life will be held 2:00 pm Monday, November 10, 2014 at St James Episcopal Church, 25 South Third Street, Wilmington, NC. Interment will immediately follow in the St Francis Memorial Garden of St James Parish. The family welcomes friends to join them at the reception in the Great Hall at St James following the service. For those who wish to send memorial gifts, please consider donations to St James Parish or the Lower Cape Fear Hospice.