Graveside services held for Marguerite Upham, 104
Graveside services held for Marguerite Upham, 104
Graveside services for Marguerite O. Upham, 104, of West Union were held Saturday, May 18, at West Union Cemetery.
Burnham-Wood & S.K. Rogers Funeral Home of West Union was in charge of arrangements.
Marguerite’s death occurred Monday, May 13, 2013, at Palmer Lutheran Health Center in West Union.
Until her death, she was believed to be West Union’s oldest living citizen.
Marguerite Olive “Rite” (Taylor) Upham was born May 4, 1909, in Springville to Fred Glen and Josephine (Dunbar) Taylor.
The oldest surviving member of the Springville High School Class of 1927, she attended her 80th class reunion in 2009.
In 1932, Marguerite married Dale L. Upham in Cedar Rapids. They welcomed their only child in October 1942.
After having lived a vagabond’s life in a travel trailer while Dale worked grading airfields for the war effort during World War II, the couple settled down in West Union in 1946.
From the time Dale retired until his death in 1997, the Uphams spend their summers fishing at their cabin near Annandale, Minn.
Among Marguerite’s other favorite pastimes were writing letters to family members and friends and reading.
She was a member of Bethel Presbyterian Church in West Union.
A generous and kind soul who always minimized her own hardships, Marguerite never lost her interest in and concern for others. She will be sorely missed.
In addition to her husband, Dale, Marguerite was preceded in death by her parents; a son, Ronald T. Upham; a daughter-in-law, Sylvia; two sisters, Dorothy Jeffries and Patricia Jean Johnson; and five brothers, Maynard, Reynold, Millard, Harmon and Robert Taylor.
She is survived by a brother, Fred (Peggy) Taylor of La Mesa, Calif., as well as many nieces and nephews.