Margaret Ann Tennant

Margaret Ann Smith Tennant, age 87, completed her life’s journey on January 8, 2014 in Austin, Texas. Ms. Tennant had been a resident of San Marcos, Texas since 1984. She worked at the former Brown School and lived in the Redwood subdivision.

Margaret was born in Wizard Wells, Texas on August 8, 1926 to Vera Rose Franklin Smith and Columbus Smith. She spent her early years on her grandparent’s ranch in Jack County taking care of the ranch animals, and helping to make butter and pick vegetables from the garden. She and her mother loved to explore the ranch looking for cottontails and picking wild flowers.

She and her family were part of the dust bowl migration to California, and in the early 1930s, they packed the model T Ford truck with all their belongings, some chickens, and a cow that walked along the roadside. They could only travel as far as the cow could walk in one day. Being ranchers and farmers, they chose to settle in the Imperial Valley. They only stayed for about a year, and then decided to return to Texas. They traveled Route 66 back home, but stopped in Deming, New Mexico when her grandmother became ill. They moved into a small ranch house there, and worked as ranch hands.

Margaret loved animals, and she had a variety of pets in her life, ranging from the typical dogs, cats, and birds (she raised cockatiels), but also horses, goats, a pot-bellied pig, a ferret, a rehabilitated squirrel, an orphaned deer she raised from birth, and little monkeys that she dressed up in doll clothes. She especially loved horses, and a favorite activity was riding the barrels in rodeos in her younger years.

Margaret had a “gypsy foot” and loved to travel. She lived in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. While living in Mississippi, she obtained her nursing credentials and became one of the first groups of Respiratory Specialists in the state, graduating from the Methodist Hospital program in Jackson, MS. She worked for the Southwest Regional Medical Center in McComb, MS as a Respiratory Specialist, and then moved to Bogalusa Hospital in Louisiana to manage their Respiratory Department.

Margaret was predeceased by her husband, Donald Tennant, her son Jerry Mathews, and her grandson Danny “Spirit” Sires of Shawnee, OK. She is survived by her daughter, Donna Dunaway of Austin, TX, and her son and daughter-in-law Johnny and Paulette Clifton of Summit, MS. She is also survived by five grandchildren: Andrea Hewitt of Nashville, TN; Jason Hewitt and wife Jeanne McCarty of Washington, DC; Patrick Fenn of Herndon, VA; Brad and wife Patty Clair Clifton of Ferriday, LA, and Roger and wife Deanna Brantley of Shreveport, LA. Her wonderful great-grandchildren who will take her spirit into the world are: Logan Savoie of New Iberia, LA; Zea Askew of Knoxville, TN; Ronin Askew of Palatka, FL; Brent Brantley of Shreveport, LA, William Hewitt of Washington, DC, and Amlih Clifton of Ferriday, LA.

Margaret’s family would like to thank all the friends, coworkers, and others who sent blessings, prayers and food for us during this time of transition.

A celebration of her life will take place in late spring in Wizard Wells, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be sent to the Spirit Acres Farm Equine Rescue and Sanctuary in Montgomery, Texas. More information is here:

http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/medical-care-and-farrier-services-for-rescued-horses/ and here: http://www.spiritacres.org/