Margaret R. Wilson Butterfield

Beloved Sister, World Traveler,

​Margaret Ruth (Wilson) Butterfield, who was born in Valentine, Nebraska, on November 11, 1917, passed away in her home on Homeland, California, on November 30.

​As a child, she and her sisters were known as the “Main Street” kids, because they lived in the back of their father’s barber shop, which was located on Main Street. The family later moved to the Wilson house on Wood Street. Their four-bedroom home had no indoor plumbing and a big back yard, in which they family kept a large garden. There were apple trees in the front yard, and Margaret remembers working in the garden and making apple butter and pies. One of her main responsibilities was cleaning out the jars used for canning, because her hand was small enough to fit inside to clean it.

All the children from the neighborhood played in their yard. The family also had one pair of roller skates and everyone took turns wearing them and going up and down the street.

Margaret remembered that her mother never spanked her children when they disobeyed, but rather sat them at the kitchen table with a cup of hot water and wouldn’t allow them to leave until they had finished drinking the water. She also remembered that her mother was an excellent seamstress, making all of the children’s clothes, including their underwear, which was made from flour sacks.

After the birth of the sixth child, Margaret’s mother was placed in a hospital in 1932 and remained there for the rest of her live for a condition, which now would be diagnosed as postpartum syndrome. Initially relatives, Aunt Nell (Wilson) Humphrey and Aunt Marjorie (Reagle) Peterson looked after the children for the first few years, but then the care of the younger children was left to the oldest siblings, Helen and Margaret.

​Margaret remembers going to the dam in Valentine and swimming in the overflow of the spillway, and ice skating in the winter when the city would flood a lot for ice skating. At a local dance, she met her future husband William Butterfield who grew up in Wood Lake.

​She graduated from Valentine High School in 1936, and finding little work in town, other than child care and housekeeping, moved to San Diego, California in 1939, on the urging of her then fiancé. She stayed with William’s family, until the two were married in Yuma, Arizona, March 23, 1940. They then lived in San Diego.

​While her husband served in the Army Engineering Corp during World War II, Margaret worked in airline factory, helping to assemble parts for planes. After the war, she worked in a furniture store.

​Her husband, who worked for Boeing was transferred to Baghdad, Iraq. Margaret recounted when they lived in a former general’s home in Baghdad, they had two living rooms, one for the men and one for the women. They had an “easy” washer, but clothes were hung out to dry on the roof of their home

​They also lived in the Philippines, when William worked for General Dynamics. They traveled extensively and visited Bangkok, Thailand and India, and also most of the countries in Europe..

​The couple also visited every state and lived for a brief time in Wyoming, before returning to San Diego. They sold that home in 1978 and moved to Homeland, California.

The couple enjoyed square dancing. William was a caller, and Margaret was asked who she danced with while her husband was calling, and she said there was always someone who needed a partner. They golfed on the course that was located close to their home. They were married 46 years, before William passed away in 1986.

​Margaret knitted baby caps and slippers, which she donated to the hospital. She was an avid reader and enjoyed self-help and philosophical books. During a Thanksgiving meal two days before her death, her advice was “Just don’t get old.”

​She is predeceased by her parents Frank and Amanda Wilson, husband William, sisters, Helen Thompson (Valentine), Evelyn Yackley (Rapid City) and Frank Wilson , Jr. (San Diego). Margaret is survived by sisters Corrine Pascoe (Valentine) and Dorothy Brinkley (San Diego) and numerous nieces and nephews.

​A memorial service was held on December 9, at Greenwood Memorial Park and Mortuary in San Diego and entombment was at the Greenwood Mausoleum.