Margaret Ann Hamilton

Beloved wife, mother, sister, grandmother and great grandmother, passed on peacefully April 30th 2014 surrounded by loving care at the family home in Ventura, California after a lengthy illness. She was 89 years old having been born in Denver Colorado on September 28th, 1924.

Margaret (Peggy) grew up in South Denver. She was taught in the ‘old school’ and, to the end of her days, she wrote beautiful longhand (and nothing else) and wrote notes and letters carefully thought out with the other person in mind.

Also in Denver she met the love of her life, Walter Harold Hamilton, before World War II interrupted their lives. She married Walter in Pecos, Texas in January, 1944 where he was a cadet in training with the Army Air Corps. After the war’s end Peggy enjoyed a simple but happy family life for a short time living in Boulder Colorado in a small camp trailer provided under the G.I. bill. Walt was completing his degree in electrical engineering at the University of Colorado.

Peggy’s family life changed into what would become its dominant course as the birth of her first child approached. With veterans returned from the war, industrial production slowing and jobs scarce, they made the decision for Walt to rejoin military service.

Peg adjusted to the complex demands of a transient military life as she continued to devote herself to her husband and increasingly, her children (Judy Elizabeth, March 1947, and Walter Clark, March 1951).

Peggy set about and tended to the needs of her family in a remarkably dedicated and almost totally selfless manner, both of which would become the hallmarks of her character. She was a private and somewhat shy person, yet she also loved the company of family and friends.

She repeatedly ‘adopted’ and found ways to support one or more persons in need wherever she lived. As the cold war moved her and her brood around the country from one Air Force Base to another, she continued her lifelong practice of focusing on the needs of others. Peg never failed, however, to constantly support her husband and her children whenever they found themselves challenged in mind, body or spirit, and, of course, there were those challenges.

She was, in those ways tireless in her ability to serve her dual priorities: her family as well as others whom she identified as having special needs.

Mom’s pleasures included growing gardens wherever she found herself. She even nurtured and carried lemons, avocados and tomatoes from one state to another thus enjoying their growth and eventual production rather than leaving them behind. She also enjoyed bird watching, a pleasure nourished in part by her own mother, Lydia, for whom she cared in her family home in Lydia’s declining years.

Peg’s loving husband Walt retired from the Air Force in 1966 and brought the family to California. He also passed away in the family home in East Ventura in June of 2010, bringing an end to their 67 years of marriage.

Margaret is survived by her two children: daughter Judy Elizabeth Hamilton of Bisbee, Ariz; son, Walter Clark Hamilton of Santa Barbara, Ca; brothers, Raymond and William Chambers, and nephew William Jr. (Carrie) all of the greater metropolitan area near Denver, Colorado. Also, grandson Andrew J. King (Vanessa); four great- grandchildren: Sterling, Zachariah, Sophia and Zoey, all of Eugene, Oregon; a sister in law, Eleanor Webster of Kennewick, WA. and her children Viva Ann and Ken Jr. Also, two nieces, Marcella (Carston) Hamilton of Hellerup, Denmark and Celia Hamilton of Riverside, Ca; Sandra, former sister-in-law (Sandra and Kenneth Forrest) of Preston, Idaho.

The family wishes to thank and express heartfelt appreciation to all the caregivers paid and unpaid including: staff of Livingston Visiting Nurse Association; American All Care Services (Maggie); longtime family friends, Ruth and Ilona Varner; Patrice Coleman; and Maria Clemons.

There will be a private celebration of Margaret’s life in the family home in Ventura and another is anticipated upon the final disposition of Margaret’s and her husband Walt’s remains at the National Cemetery, Fort Logan, Denver, Colorado.

Arrangements under the direction of Charles Carroll Funeral Home, Ventura, CA.