Author, coffee drinker, wife, mother, grandmother and friend, Margaret Jerinic was a voracious reader with wide interests, as her bookshelves will attest. Hidden beneath her reclusive nature was a passion for the written word, whether she was reading, writing, selling or translating it. She came alive when the conversation turned to fiction and history, and her enthusiasm inspired others to read. She could be counted on to provide insight and references on a diverse range of topics, including the significance of the British mystery and the historical controversies surrounding Vlad the Impaler.
She raised five daughters, managed a bookstore, wrote book reviews and the novels The Sword of the Spirit: A Novel of Byzantium and The Eunuch’s Secret, a mystery set in the Byzantine Empire. She had a unique ability to translate books and theological articles into English from Church Slavonic, Serbian and Russian. She loved music, so she sang in her church choir and began guitar lessons in the middle of her adult life. She loved cats but became the primary caretaker of the dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs and fish that found their way into 7 Robinwood Road. She also saved many mice and birds from feline clutches all while consoling the confused cat who only wanted to feed her.
A devoted Eastern Orthodox Christian, she lived her faith, committed to the plight of the underserved. She volunteered for a variety of causes and served in many ways, including packing supplies for the food insecure and knitting hats for the homeless.
Margaret was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to Gordon and Mary Wilson and grew up in Oxford, Ohio. As an undergraduate, she studied Russian at University of Wisconsin, where she also met her husband, George, marrying him in 1963. Together they moved to Massachusetts in 1968 and began a family and a long life in the Boston-area. Margaret earned a Master’s degree in Medieval and Renaissance Literature at University of Massachusetts Boston. She loved the New England landscape and her Boston-area community, enjoying her return visits there after she and George relocated to Nevada in 2014 to be closer to their children and their families.
Margaret is survived by her husband George Jerinic of Henderson, NV and her five daughters and their families, including seven grandchildren: Maria Jerinic-Pravica and Michael Pravica, and Nicholas, Natalia and Luka of Henderson, NV; Vera Jerinic-Brodeur and Chris Brodeur, and Caleb and Norah of Mesa, AZ; Katarina Jerinic and Chad Stayrook of Brooklyn, NY; Olga and Paul Koenig, and Henry and Theodore of Agoura Hills, CA; and Alexandra Jerinic and David Ko of San Francisco, CA; as well as many friends scattered across the country.
Visitation will be held Thursday, 10/21, from 5:30-8:30 PM and the funeral Friday 10/22, at 10:00 AM at Palm Eastern Mortuary and Cemetery, 7600 S Eastern Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89123.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the following organizations which were meaningful to Margaret:
ST NICHOLAS FOUNDATION
The parent foundation of the St. Nicholas Mission which supports Orthodox Christian outreach.
donations by Paypal to [email protected]
THREE SQUARE FOOD BANK
Focused on outreach to “struggling individuals and families at risk of hunger” and working to eliminate food insecurity in Southern Nevada
https://give.threesquare.org/production?cl=THREE&pg=general_donation_form&amt=75,150,225,500&value=3&customsource03=email&tribute=TRUE&comments=on&source=fy22_general_donation_form
SPREAD THE WORD NEVADA
“Dedicated to advancing childhood literacy within low-income communities by changing lives one book at a time."
https://spreadthewordnevada.org/donate-today/
And please support your independent bookstores.
COMPARTA UN OBITUARIO
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