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Note: e then attended North Dakota Agricultural College and received a degree in Home Economics in 1916. She again graduated with honors and was a member of Phi Upsilon Omicron.
When she got married, many people didn't think much of her marrying her sister's husband. Having people against you doesn't make stepping into a family of 3 young boys any easier. Then her husband died 21 years later. He was the kind of doctor who didn't push he patients very hard to get their bills paid. consequently, at his death, there was not a lot of extra money. Most of her life was spent taking care of herself out on her own. Even so, I never heard her complain. Though she was very serious about life, she definitely enjoyed it.
Margaret was an excellent piano player. She never played much for us because my mother did most of it. She seemed very satisfied to sit back and enjoy our singing. She did play a senior piano recital while at North Dakota Agricultural College. My mother once told me that the ultimate compliment was to have some one say they thought it was Margaret playing. I used to feel the same when I was told they thought my mother was playing and it was me instead. One of her prized possessions in Arizona was her organ which my mother, Ruth Ann, has today.
After college she taught school in Hunter, North Dakota. Then it was on to Vassar in the eastern United States to work in a special nursing program during World War I. As it turned out, most of their work was with the great flu epidemic at that time. Next she headed to Athens, Georgia, for a job in Public health. Her next job was that of housewife and mother back in Cooperstown, North Dakota.
The cottage which she used as a summer home and is now owned by Ruth Buck is the original location of Biltmore. Biltmore looked essentially like the old section of Clare and Bob Small's cottage (Stillmore). The Biltmore was torn down and the present cottage was built as a replacement. Margaret was given the cottage because she helped put many of her brothers and sisters through college. The cottage was her parents way of repaying the loans. That cottage has been the location of many weddings, honeymoons, reunions, parties, etc.
Eva and Margaret were very close. My grandmother was a woman who was very much in control all the time and particularly of her emotions. The only time I saw her near tears was when I heard her and Uncle Will talking about Eva. Grandma said that one of the last requests Eva made of her was to take care of her 3 little boys. That request was fulfilled as Margaret became not only their aunt, but their step-mother as well.
Trips to the lake to visit Grandma were always exciting time as we were kids. I remember sometimes that Mom and Dad just carried us to the car early in the morning and we'd continue to sleep. It used to be a 13 hour trip before interstate highways and grown up kids. The excitement would build all day as we rode. Then we'd get to the road around the lake and it would seem endless even though it is only one mile from George Stone's to our driveway. Then we'd fly our of the car and race down the hill. Grandma would always be waiting for us with a big batch of sugar cookies all prepared. We were never allowed more than one or two cookies at a time. Besides keeping our health in mind, I think the main reason was so they would last longer and she wouldn't have to bake more while we were there. My earliest childhood memory is of the lake when I was 3 years old and I think Mom and Dad left me with Grandma for a little while at that time.
We sometimes thought Grandma was pretty strict but I think all of us knew it was because she loved us and didn't want us to be hurt. One of the things we sometimes thought was unfair was the required after lunch nap or rest. As young kids it was all right but as some of us got older, we didn't think it was necessary anymore. Grandma knew better I know as I look back. That extra rest for everyone helped everyone get along a lot better in the evening. I don't ever remember having arguments or little fights like we sometimes had at home. Mom later told me she thought the nap time was for Grandma's benefit as much as anyone else. Whomever it was for we all were required to lie down quietly for 15 minutes. The time was set and we could get up and play with cousins when it went off. More often than not we fell asleep for longer than that.
Grandma's concern for our safety was one reason I never told her about one of the adventures of all the cousins. The Bank in Battle Lake had been robbed and reports said they thought they were still in the area. As kids will do we let our imaginations run wild. A cottage across the lake (we called it Gillespies) which was almost always empty had a light one night. Julie Stone, Kathy Small, and I (I think we were the group) noticed a spot across from that cottage and down the hill from the road that had had a campfire. We imagined that the bank robbers camped there one night and checked out if the cottage was empty. The next day they moved into it. We told others about our idea so two boat loads of kids went over there to investigate. (None of us believed our theories were anywhere near correct.) I was one of the last to get our of the boat and before I did, the others were running back and jumping into the boats as rapidly as possible. They said they had seen both a gun and some money on the table. We left rather rapidly. The next day Frank Stone helped the law authorities capture the thieves and it seems our theory had been just exactly what had happened.
It was not unusual to see Julie Stone, Kathy Small, Barb Stone, Jan Stone, or myself together swimming, talking, reading, etc. Depending upon who was there we spent most of the days together. Julie and I became particularly close friends. When Julie's family owned Lakeview Resort, my brother, Roger and I used to spend a lot of time over there. Grandma thought we should spend a little more time at our shore but we told her the variety of activities was greater over there. Roger and I would use our dad's old motor which involved wrapping a rope around and then pulling it to start. Of course the rope comes flying off when we pulled so much care had to be taken not to let go of the rope or it would be in the lake. The trips across the lake were always two person affairs -- one would row while the other attempted to start the motor. We would row almost to the resort before it would start and then we'd have to run it a little to warm it up so it would start sooner on the return trip. Once we made it all the way without it starting. Ross Stone helped us by standing on the dock and pulling. I think he had one foot in the boat or on it because when it started, he almost fell into the lake (no neutral on the motor).
As I think all kids do at one time or another, I fell in the lake as a very young girl. Of course, I was all dressed up ready to go somewhere with my good shoes on and a bow in my hair. It apparently didn't scare me as I got myself out and walked to the cottage. No one knew what had happened until they saw me all wet. No one believed me when I told them I not only fell in but went under the dock. They did believe me, though, when they found the bow under the dock.
Many of my trips to "the lake" were by bus -- sometimes alone and other times I took other brothers or my sister. Margaret could be stubborn and one such bus trip illustrates that. I went to Minneapolis by bus alone and Grandma was to meet me at the bus depot as show was flying in from Arizona. Time schedules were such that I had to wait in the depot about 2 or 3 hours. I was pretty hot and tired when she got there. After some effort we got a taxi which was to take us to Frank and Ella Stone's. The taxi driver said he had a bad back and requested us to put our luggage in the car. I started to do just that. Grandma stopped me and told the driver he could do it since it was his responsibility. He refused and got someone else as a rider. I told Grandma I didn't mind doing it but she insisted much to my dismay. We finally got another taxi and he would put the luggage in plus he knew how to get the Frank and Ella's house which was rather tricky (you had to drive through an alley or climb many step up a hill). Later that evening Clare and Bob Small drove us to the lake.
Margaret is responsible for a large quantity of the material in this book. She was a saver of everything just as her mother had been. After her death I went through every book, box, and suitcase in every corner of the cottage. I found two suitcases full of family pictures and newspaper clippings. All the information about the Classons and the Forbes was found in a little box in a drawer. I was looking for these kinds of things because I knew she was ding some family history work. Several times I went with her to see Dick "on the hill>' She was wanting him to tell stories and provide information about ancestors and other relatives. I am only completing what she started. I only wish I had talked to her more about the information she had because I know some of her knowledge has been lost.
Stuart Lake was a very special place to her and that feeling has been extended two more generations. Grandma had a last request before her death just as Eva did only no one but her knew about it. Preparations were being made for the trip from Arizona to Minnesota as always only she had been battling cancer for a year or more. Her doctor told her he would see her again in the fall. Mon and Dad and my sister, Lise, flew to Arizona to get her. Grandma was requesting many things be done which were not usually done before leaving and for some unknown reason Mon didn't put up any resistance. Grandma slept almost the entire trip from Arizona to "the lake." Once she got there, she walked down our path to the bench that is about half way down and sat down for a while. Then she finished the walk to the cottage. My parents had had a phone installed in her bedroom plus made arrangements for a girl to come in occasionally and help her. Then my folks had to leave right away. Four days later we received a phone call that she had been taken to Kent's hospital in Little Falls. A week and a half later she died. Even during the hospital stay her spirits were high and she was joking with nurses. She was happy because her last request was to go home -- the lake -- one more time and she had done just that.
Grandma Margaret was a great lady for whom I have the utmost respect. I think of her often and the example she has set with her life for me.
Note: Margaret graduated from La Moure high school with honors in 1912. Sh
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