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- Margaret May Sears was born 23 May 1912 in Akron, Washington County, Colorado, to Nelson Evans Sears and Edna Maude Barnhouse. She was born in her parent's house on the east side of town as were her elder brother, Alva Raymond, in 1910, and her younger sister, Faye Eleanor, in 1914, all delivered by a Dr. Kaylor. That house on the northeast corner of the block at present 5th and Date had some interesting history. Margaret's maternal grandparents, Ira Morgan Barnhouse and Mary Francis Albin, had moved the entire house from the country (Woodrow) into the east side of Akron several years before and had lived there until Nelson and Maude moved-in in 1910 just before Alva's birth. Ira and Mary consequently moved to a newly-built house on the southeast corner of the block (at present 4th & Date). But there's more. Nelson and Maude also moved their entire country house in (also from the Woodrow area) and had joined it to the house left by Ira and Mary. Margaret describes their house on the northeast corner of the block: "There was a driveway leading into the yard from the north where a car (or maybe a wagon, earlier) could park right by the back door. Across the driveway, west of the house, was our windmill. That's where we got our water for everything. Mother used a galvanized tub and a wash basin to do the [clothes] washing. The tub was moved into the kitchen for our weekly baths [our kitchen] opened out onto the back room (we always called it the back room) where mother washed [dishes] and where some things were stored and where the cellar was." The cellar (probably a storm cellar used to escape the dust) was a place of dark mystery: "A lift-up door opened up to the cellar where mother kept the jars of food she canned in the fall. Other foods that had to be kept cool were stored there. A black and scary hole in the ground I thought it to be." A barn stood to the west of the house, across what would now be the alley of that block. That barn, in fact, still stands in 2007 as depicted in the picture above. Margaret describes the barn: "There was the big red barn west of the house the north part of the barn was a garage. In the south part [were] stalls and mangers with an aisle running between them. My father kept a sow (for our supply of milk, plus a few families we sold to) for several years and in the west stall a horse named Dick." While the cellar was a mysterious hole in the ground the barn was a cornucopia of childhood delights, especially for the two girls of the family: "When we children were small we had a swing in the aisle that ran between the east and west stalls. What fun it was to swing there. The hayloft entrance was at the north end of the aisle, a ladder leading straight up to the left. We used to play up in the loft, jumping around in the hay and having lots of fun." Ira Barnhouse had been in the Civil War, having participated in Sherman's March to the Sea, but returned in poor health with dysentery for the rest of his life. He died 4 Apr 1914 and is buried in Akron Cemetery. Margaret didn't remember her grandpa Ira but she had vague memories of her grandma Mary. When Margaret started school (kindergarten) in 1917 the old grade school building, built in the late 1890s, was undergoing remodeling and expansion so she attended classes in the old Akron School north of the Methodist Church and later in an upstairs room in the high school. Finally, in 1919 the project was completed and the new school was opened where she completed her elementary schooling graduating from 8th grade in 1925. She entered Washington County High School at Akron (just built in 1916) in late 1925 graduating in 1930 in the largest class in the history of the Washington County School System, 41 seniors. Commencement was held Friday, May 23, 1930. In high school she and her best friend, Helen McCabe, were known as the "Ukulele Girls" for their ukulele duo and flapper styles, the naughty rage of the 20s. She entered Colorado State Teachers College in Greeley, Colo. in the fall quarter of the 1931-1932 school term. With the school year beginning in the fall of 1933, Margaret began teaching in rural Washington County, Colorado at the South Buena Vista School, Dist. 58. In the fall of 1934 she began teaching at Pleasant Hill school, Dist. 42, "often called the Johnson school" at that time. It was located east of the Buttes, and the Harry Johnson home was just a half mile east of the schoolhouse. "There was an old pump organ in the school, and I really loved playing it," she said in her writeup "My Years of Teaching" for the Washington County History pub 1989. "We had singing every morning." She taught at this school for three years. She wrote of the dust bowl years: "It was in the latter part of 1934, and 1935 that the dust storms were the worst. The most terrible of these storms came one afternoon (I don't remember the date.) We could see a huge black cloud rolling in from the northwest. When it came roaring over us, the schoolroom became dark and the smell of dust was heavy in the air. The parents came and got their children. I took the McDonald girls to their home which was on my way to town. I could not see the road, and all the way to town I kept squarely in the middle between the fence posts, which I could just barely see on each side. I did make it into town all right, but will always remember this frightening experience." On 21 Jun 1936, Margaret and Clifford Coyne Cooley, son of Robert Berton Cooley and Carrie Louella Miller, were married at the Presbyterian manse in Akron by Reverend G. Grey Dashen. The newlyweds, accompanied by the groom's parents, left after the ceremony for a honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls. They returned 6 Jul 1936 to begin residence in the Rena Lewis Apartments at Main St. and 5th Ave in Akron. She began her third and final year in the Pleasant Hill, Dist. 42, in the fall of 1936. In her words, "As a contrast to the previous year, there were several heavy snow storms in the school year 1936-1937. Many times snow drifts blocked sections of the road, and I had to take to the fields and pastures, opening gates and, in one instance, taking down the fence, and then of course, stopping again to close gates and put the fence back up. It was a joy one day late in the winter of 1937 when I saw the first fleecy white clouds in the sky and knew that spring was on the way". For the 1937-1938 school year she transferred to Center School, Dist. 21, north of Platner. She taught there for just one term. In the 1938-1939 school term she taught at Pleasant, Dist. 15, south of Platner. After just one year Pleasant School, to May of 1939, she began a six-year hiatus from teaching due to the duties of motherhood and demands of World War II. Coyne and Margaret's first child, a son, Daniel Berton, was born 25 October 1939 in the Anderson home in west Akron at present 581 Fremont St. (refurbished and still standing in 2007). They were still residing in the Lewis Apartments when Daniel was born but shortly after his birth they acquired (with help from R.B. Cooley) the property known as Lot Three in Block Three of the First Addition of Akron, Colorado, from J. B. Fisher. They built a Cape Cod-style house on the lot costing them just $2000. Coyne and Margaret's second child, a daughter, Catherine Lou, was born 14 Nov 1943, also in the Anderson Home. With end of World War II she resumed teaching in September 1945 at Star School, Dist. 11, for the 1945-1946 school term. for the 1946-47 school she taught at Platner, Dist 16 (8 mi E of Akron). Her salary was $116.67 per month. The next year on Sept 1, 1947 Margaret renewed her Teacher's Contract with the Dist. 16 Board of Directors to teach for the period beginning 1 Sep 1947 and ending 180 days later. Her salary was $150 per month. The school term 1947-1948, still at Platner, would be final one in Margaret's teaching career. Coyne and Margaret's third child, a daughter, Jo Ellen, was born on 13 Nov 1953. Margaret was an accomplished musician (piano, ukuele, vocal). She was a "Ukuele Girl" in her younger years. After her years of teaching in rural schools, she gave piano lessons in the 50s through the 80s. She accompanied on the piano numerous students in their instrument solo endeavors (including her son, Danny, who played, among other pieces, "Willow Echoes", on the baritone horn). While not playing the piano in any scheduled manner, she was often called upon to play for funerals and other church functions. She was a member of the Presbyterian Church Choir, faithfully singing every Sunday morning. Margaret had a life-long enthusiasm for books and writing. She served as librarian at the Akron Public Library from 1970 until her death in 1987. She fervently believed that the community should become more involved with books and their local library so she wrote the weekly newspaper column "From Off the Shelves" for the local newspaper, The Akron News Reporter. In 1976 she applied for and received a grant from the State of Colorado to engage in a Bicentennial-Centennial Oral History Project. The project's goal was to preserve valuable history that would otherwise be lost to the next generation. Various Washington County residents were interviewed and the interviewees life, work, remembrances, anecdotes and personal feelings about his/her years lived especially in Washington County were recorded onto cassette tape. Margaret died Sunday, Jan. 18, 1987, at Washington County Hospital aged 74, and is interred at the Akron Cemetery
- (Medical):Physician: P.C. Brittain, D.O., 482 Adams, Akron, Colorado 80720
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1912 - 1987 (74 years)
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