Margie Ada Partin Kilpatrick

Friends and family of Margie Ada Partin Kilpatrick bid a loving farewell to a woman who was sharp, intelligent, caring, loving and passionate about life. She stood up for what she believed in and was known to engage in an argument now and then about politics, international events and the state of affairs in our local, state and national governments.

Margie, widow of Charles O. Kilpatrick, longtime editor and publisher of the San Antonio Express-News, was known throughout the civic community. Standing firmly at Charles’ side during his career, she was his partner as they savored the rich multiculturalism of their adopted home and worked for equity in the community.

Known as Mimi to her family, she was a good daughter, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and a dear friend. On Jan. 15, she celebrated her 100th birthday, surrounded by family and friends at St. Francis Nursing Home. She died there peacefully March 11, 2026.

Margie was born in 1926 to Felix and Virgie Partin in San Augustine, in East Texas. After graduation from high school, she attended what is now called Stephen F. Austin State University, in Nacogdoches. There, she met Charles. She followed him as editor of the student newspaper. In 1944, after his graduation and enlistment in the Marine Corps, they married. He went off to join the Pacific combat of World War II, and she returned to complete her college degree.

She became a teacher. But upon becoming pregnant in Tyler with their first child, Kent, she gave up teaching. “You’re going to love staying at home with your children,” she recalled her principal telling her, his presuming that childbirth marked the end of work outside the home. Those were the times.

In 1950, Charles moved the family to San Antonio, where he joined the Express-News and rose in the ranks during a four-decade career at the newspaper. Soon, they had two more children — daughter Kye and then a second son, Mark.

Margie and Charles loved the city and advocated for a vibrant downtown. She long had envisioned downtown as a place to work, live and enjoy life. In 1988, the couple moved downtown to an apartment overlooking the Paseo del Rio and one of the city’s busiest intersections. In 1996, they moved across the river to a fourth-floor apartment they turned into a home to remember. They relished watching the city below and walking all over downtown, enjoying life and making friends.

After her husband’s death in 2013, only weeks past their 69th wedding anniversary, Margie stayed downtown, where she continued hosting friends and family for river parade-watching parties, game nights, lunches and dinners, and movie-viewing gatherings (mostly films featuring actor Cary Grant … he reminded her of Charles).

Margie and Charles also loved México and France, where they traveled often. She became fluent in Spanish and later, French. In San Antonio, the couple supported the local branch of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and the Mexican Cultural Institute, both at HemisFair Plaza. They were among founders of the Amigos de Plaza México, which supported both those institutions, and she was the first president. They often hosted visiting UNAM teachers at their home.

In 1997, Margie and Charles were honored by México with the Aguila Azteca (Order of the Aztec Eagle), that nation’s highest award bestowed upon foreign citizens. They were the first couple to receive the award simultaneously.

After Charles retired in 1990, he and Margie would spend a few months of each year in France, seeing old friends and making new ones, and taking intensive French language courses at the Institut de Français in Villefranche-sur-Mer, along the Mediterranean Sea. Margie was a top student whose abilities surpassed the school’s offerings, so teachers would create special classes for her. After Charles’ death, Margie and daughter Kye returned to school there for one last visit to study French.

The oldest of four children, Margie was preceded in death by her sister and both brothers, as well as her parents.

Survivors include her son, Kent and his wife, Lucia Molina, of México City; daughter, Kye, and her husband, Lou Fox of San Antonio; son, Mark and his wife, Sharon Roberts, of Austin; grandchildren, Conor Kilpatrick, Ian Kilpatrick, Cait Kilpatrick Berry and Matthew Koehler, and their spouses, and Evan Kilpatrick, Anna Kilpatrick, Sarah Fox, Juan Merino Molina and Mónica Merino Molina; and eight great-grandchildren.

Services are pending.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to St. Francis Nursing Home, 630 W. Woodlawn Avenue, San Antonio, Texas 78212 (https://www.stfrancisnursinghome.org/donate); Village of the Incarnate Word, 4707 Broadway St., San Antonio, Texas 78209 (https://www.thevillageiw.org/supportthevillage/); or the San Antonio Food Bank, 5200 Historic Old Highway 90, San Antonio, Texas 78227 (https://safoodbank.org/donate/).