Margaret Louise Hiett Donnelly

Margaret L Hiett was born Margaret Paul in Leavenworth, Washington on New Year’s Eve, 1930. She was the third of five children, and her family made their meager living picking apples in the orchards of Eastern Washington. Eventually, they moved to the Snohomish County area and settled near Snohomish.

For reasons still largely unknown, Margie and her siblings were placed in a Lutheran children’s home, where they spent most of their childhood years. At the age of 15, Margie was placed with Gordon and Helen Duskin of Arlington, Washington and came to live with them and their two sons, Gary and Denny. Twin boys David and Dale joined the Duskin family about a year later, and Margie assisted Helen in caring for them. They adored her and called her “MoreMommy”, a name they continued to use affectionately throughout her life.

Margie attended Arlington High School where she sang in the school choir, was a member of Pep Club, and served as Drill Master for the Arlington HS Drill Team. She graduated in 1950.

After graduation, she met and married Lou G Hiett and together they had two daughters, Dianne and LouAnn.

Margie built her life around caring for her family and putting down roots in her community. As a young mother, she co-led her daughter's Campfire Group, worked at the bakery owned and operated by her adoptive father, Gordon, and attended Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, where she assisted in various church activities, including the annual church Smorgasbord: an event that drew people from all over the area, even as far away as Seattle.

After living “in town” for the early years of their marriage, Margie and Lou moved their family to a custom-built house on land Lou had purchased at a young age. Margie loved this home. Her backyard overlooked the Skagit Valley, with an outdoor fireplace and retaining wall built from bricks salvaged from Gordon’s bakery ovens. Towering cedar trees shaded the sweeping, perfectly landscaped front yard, and Lou’s extensive landscaping included native fruit trees and berry bushes. This was the home where Margie raised her daughters, and which later became known and loved as “Grandma’s House” by her grandchildren.

Margie was known for her cooking, which often included fresh ingredients like vegetables straight from the garden or steelhead trout caught the same day by her husband Lou in the icy waters of the Stillaguamish river. Her pies and crisps made with fresh-picked apples from the trees in her front yard were a particular treasure. And her other signature dishes - lasagna, sweet potatoes, and potato salad – are staples in the kitchens of her children and grandchildren to this day.

After her daughters were grown, Margie took a job working in the bakery for a large retail grocery store. She was eventually promoted to Bakery Manager, a position in which she took great pride. She always called it “working at the bake shop”, and she sometimes even brought home cookies for the grandkids.

In her retirement years, she and Lou enjoyed traveling, and put thousands of miles on their old Winnebago motorhome. Some of their most memorable trips included vacations with the grandkids to Canon Beach, Oregon; driving their grandchildren to and from Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp in Montana for Choir Camp; and a multi-week trip to Alaska to fulfill Lou’s lifelong dream of driving up the Yukon highway. Margie also especially enjoyed trips to Hawaii with her Duskin family, where she got to hang out on the beach and indulge her love of swimming, often staying in the water until her fingers got “pruny”.

One of Margie’s other lifelong loves was Music. She had a beautiful alto voice and sang in the choir at Our Saviour’s Lutheran for sixty years: from the ages of fifteen until seventy-five when she moved away from Arlington. Church choir was one of her closest cohorts and included many of her lifelong friends. Her legacy of music has carried through generations of her family and now lives on in her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

People often spoke of Margie as "bringing light" into whatever place or situation she may have found herself. For the last 18 months of her life, she was a resident at Cogir Assisted Living of Edmonds, where she could be close to family members. The staff and residents at Cogir described her as sweet and kind, if also a bit stubborn at times. Her family wishes to express heartfelt thanks to all who so kindly and ably served her, especially in her final days.

Margie passed from this life into the arms of Jesus on October 28, 2026 at 5:20pm. She was 95 years old.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Gordon and Helen Duskin, her brother Dennis Duskin, husband Lou Hiett, sisters Leona Stratton, Eva Moore, Bertha Goins and brother Bill Paul, and second husband Dennis Donnelly. She is survived by her daughters Dianne Herivel and LouAnn Fowler (Dan Fowler), grandchildren Jennifer Herivel Thomas (Chad Thomas), Emily Herivel, Rebecca Herivel (Ian Mengedoht), Joel Lee (Marisa Lee) and Krista Thomson (Scott Thompson), as well as her brothers David Duskin (Kay Duskin) and Dale Duskin (Carol Duskin) and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.

Funeral Services will be held on Wednesday, November 4th at 10:00 AM at Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home, 804 State Avenue, Marysville, WA 98270.

Viewing will be at 9:30 AM. Reception to follow on-site.

Burial will be at 1 PM at Arlington Cemetery.

Memorial gifts may be made to:

Alzheimer's Association, Washington Chapter

10700 Meridian Ave N # 503

Seattle WA 98133

Or

St Joseph's Indian School

P.O. Box 326

Chamberlain, SD 57326