Margaret Ann McDonald was born February 5, 1948 in Lamar, OK to Garland and Leola Huff, the third of four children. She respected and loved her dad who worked so hard to provide for their family and was overwhelmed with joy when he received Christ later in life. She had an even deeper love and respect for her mom who worked equally as hard to ensure that all their needs were met and that they went to church and heard about the love of Christ. Words are not adequate to describe how much she loved and admired her mom. It was through the love and encouragement of her mom that led her to a place of trusting in Christ as her personal Lord and Savior. She was baptized in Lamar, OK by Brother Leroy Rice in a pond up from John Freeman’s house.
She attended Moss High School and loved playing basketball. We would often hear basketball stories about her and her good friend Connie. Connie would set the pick and mom who come around and shoot the jump shot. She thought the world of her brothers Pete and Charles and her sister Ruth. She graduated in 1966 and then worked as the secretary at Moss High School.
In 1967 she moved to California to be with her sister, Ruth. Ruth was her best friend but California was not for her and so in 1969 she returned to Oklahoma and got an apartment in Tulsa with a job at the Wonder Bread Company where she worked with a lady named Patty McDonald. Patty just so happened to have a nephew named Danny who was home from Oklahoma Baptist University for the summer. Patty began to scheme to set them up on a blind date.
Dan and Margaret met up for a blind date in the summer of 1969. They went bowling and then went to see a Clint Eastwood movie – Two Mules for Sister Sara. They were married at First Baptist Church of Holdenville, OK on December 19, 1970.
Dan transferred to Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK so that mom could keep her job at the bread company. In May of 1972 they welcomed their first child, Paula and in 1975 they added their second child, Brian. In 1977 they were surprised to learn that they would have a third child, Chad.
Margaret worked for many years as a secretary at a construction company and then as a legal assistant at Hilti. She made sure that each of her kids had the opportunity to attend college. She was proud of her family but most proud that all of her children and grandchildren knew Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.
She was a woman of faith. She loved Jesus. When her eyes began to fade, she was most disappointed that she could no longer read Scripture. A few summers ago on a family vacation to Colorado, mom was assigned to bring the devotional after dinner. Knowing that she was beginning to decline she shared about her hope in Christ and how she always did best to be faithful in her commitment to him. It has been said that a person’s greatest contribution to the Kingdom of God will not be something they do but someone they raise. That was certainly true for Margaret. She has left a legacy of faith that will live on until Christ returns.
She is preceded in death by her parents – Garland and Leola Huff, Her brother, Charles Huff, and one grandson, Marcus McDonald.
She is survived by her husband Dan, her daughter, Paula Philips (Husband Robby) of Fort Worth, TX, her son Brian McDonald (wife Gissel) of Olathe, KS, and her son Chad McDonald (wife Faith) of Olathe, KS, her sister Ruth Mathewson (Husband Barry) of Glendora, CA, her brother Pete Huff (wife Warna) of Holdenville, OK – along with her grandchildren Kaylee and Zachary Philips, Wyatt and Walker McDonald, and Maddux and Eva McDonald.
Funeral Services will be held at Lenexa Baptist Church on February 2, 2023 at 10am. A second service will be held Saturday, February 4, 2023 at First Baptist Church, Holdenville, OK at 10am.
In lieu of flowers donations can be made to Harbor House Hospice of Overland Park, KS or to the Lenexa Baptist Church Foundation.