Margaret is predeceased by her parents, her sister Bernice Kirkland and her brother Walter DeCrette.
Her father had an upscale restaurant, Century Roof Garden, where he was a chef, as well as a confectionary shop and a cafeteria. By the time the Great Depression struck, her father was ill and her mother had to work. Margaret recalls the time as "interesting, and a bit traumatic." A year after her father passed, Margaret moved to Kansas City, Missouri, with her mother to live with her sister, brother-in-law and their two year old son. In early 1943, she went to work for the Kansas City Southern Railroad, and was one of the first women to work for the railroad. Prior to World War II, women did not work for the railroads. "Only men worked for the railroad, in every capacity, but when the young men went to war, then they took women." Unknowingly, Margaret was a trailblazer, setting a precedent for working women who came after her.
At 23, Margaret saw an article about women enlisting in the Marines. She saw enlistment as "something different to do, something unusual, and she would also be helping the [war] effort. She went to the recruiters and told them she wanted to be in the 'Medical Corps'. She was told the Marines did not have a Medical Corps, but the Coast Guard did; their office was upstairs. Margaret made up her mind and enlisted into the newly created Coast Guard Women's Reserve, nicknamed SPARS. Margaret would soon become an inspiratIon as one of the women who served her country during World War II; setting precedents for women who followed her. While her decision to enlist was a bit impulsive, she never regretted it.
After her honorable discharge from the Coast Guard, Margaret returned to civilian life in Glendale, Calif. where her sister and nephew had taken up residence. She went to school and became an X-Ray technician. During her career, she saw numerous advances in the medical technology, including mammograms, ultra-sounds., and open heart surgery. Margaret moved to Salinas, Calif. and worked as an X-Ray technician for several years.
Margaret was among a generation of women who have paved the way for future generations of women, both in the workforce and in the military. She was a woman of firsts and was an inspiration to any woman seeking to follow her example of high expectations and hard work.
Margaret Patricia DeCrette married Donald Ladd Keyes in Santa Clara, California, on May 27, 1960, when she was 40 years old. Donald Ladd Keyes died on June 2, 1982, in Mountain View, California, when he was 66 years old.
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