Margaret Hamilton O’Brien
November 28, 1913
December 10, 2007
Margaret was born in 1913 in the little East Kootenay town of Moyie and in June of 1917 her family moved to Terrace where her father was employed in the logging industry. In 1920 Margaret’s family moved into the house her father built at 3324 Kenny St., where she lived until her marriage to Jim O’Brien in 1936. They began their married life in Usk where they had four children. In 1948 Jim, Margaret and their four children moved back into her family home in Terrace after the passing of her father, Joseph McLaren. Margaret lived in that home until moving to Twin River Estates when it opened in 1990. After making her home in Terrace for nearly 90 years, Margaret moved back to the East Kootenays in December 2006. She moved into the beautiful Joseph Creek Village in Cranbrook where her daughter Sharone, her grandchildren and great grandchildren reside.
Margaret was a remarkable woman in many ways and was up for the many challenges life brought her way. Raising her four children was the main focus of her life for many years. She was a woman of her time and stayed home to raise her children - always putting family first with a hot meal on the table both at lunch and dinner. It is with appreciation and admiration that we look back over those years of raising her family with hard work and determination. Even in hard times her family never did without, whether it was new clothes for school or money to go to a matinee at the movie theatre.
Margaret came from a musical family and she and two sisters, who all had lovely singing voices, used to entertain at local functions in their teen years. During those years her father taught weekly dance lessons.
In her later years Margaret enjoyed working in her flower garden at Twin River Estates and playing cards. When the family got together for dinner on special occasions a card game often closed out the evening. She learned the game of bridge in her later years and was always keen to make a foursome.
On Saturday, December 8th, she attended a Highland Dance Recital to watch her 3 1/2 year old great granddaughter. Later that day she had a fall and was unable to recover from the complications of that fall. She died peacefully in the Cranbrook Hospital on Monday, December 10th.
Margaret was predeceased by Jim O’Brien in 1983 and leaves to mourn four children. Danny O’Brien (Theresa), Linda Buller (Ted), Len O’Brien (Gloria), Sharone O’Brien (Stefan): 9 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
Always in our hearts and remembered.
Those wishing to remember Margaret may make a donation to the Canadian Cancer Society,
19 - 9th Ave. South,
Cranbrook, B.C. V1C 2L9