Margaret E. Myers

Margaret E. Myers, passed peacefully on Sunday, April 14, 2024 in Akron, Ohio at the age of 79. Margaret Stewart was asked the forever question by a man she had known for only six weeks. “I don’t know if I love you, but I sure’d like to marry you,” he said. Her answer would not only change the course of her life but, in so many ways, is the moment that best encapsulates her spirit. “Sounds like a good idea,” she said. Only 24 hours before, Margaret had been on a date with someone else. But there was something about Dale Myers that caught her attention. He was 6 feet, 5 inches tall, for one, and a proud Texan. She was a petite and athletic schoolteacher from West Vancouver, British Columbia, who happened to be in Hawaii, where Dale was stationed at a U.S. Navy Base, to help with her sister’s newborn child. Margaret was about to return home to West Vancouver when her plans changed. Margaret was always up for adventure like that. She quit her job midyear to marry that near-stranger and move to the United States. Margaret Elizabeth Myers (nee Stewart) died Sunday, April 14, in Akron, Ohio. She was 79 and had been in declining health with advanced years of multiple sclerosis and, more recently, pulmonary arterial hypertension. She was preceded in death by Dale, who passed away Jan. 3, 2023, at the age of 77. Margaret was born March 5, 1945, in Victoria, British Columbia, the third of five girls her father lovingly called “Eenie,” “Meenie,” “Miny,” “Moe” and “Nomo.” Margaret was Miny. She grew up in the coastal mountains of West Vancouver, British Columbia, skiing, curling and swimming. She was a gifted student-athlete who skipped a grade in high school and excelled as a grass hockey player. Graduating from high school a year early in 1962, Margaret studied elementary education at the the University of British Columbia at their main campus in Vancouver, BC. She left the university before finishing her degree to teach first grade in Kelowna, BC, a city in such desperate need of educators at the time that teachers were hired before graduating. Margaret taught first and second grade from 1966-68, and then moved home to West Vancouver where she taught for another year. It was the summer of 1969 that she met and married Dale, but the honeymoon was short-lived. The Navy sent him to Antarctica. And she moved in with his parents in south Texas. The couple exchanged letters and Dale implored his parents to be nice to his bride. Margaret, though, got along quite well with her in-laws. She was good at that. She felt at home wherever she was, and she made certain everyone around her felt at home too. Her time in Texas wasn’t long. While Dale was in the Navy, the couple also lived in Hawaii, Rhode Island and California. As much as Margaret loved adventure, Dale was filled with wanderlust. The couple lived in Medina, Ohio, and then in Louisville, Kentucky. The Bluegrass State is where Dale and Margaret became parents to two sons, Stephen and Stewart, in 1973 and 1975. Then the small family moved to Illinois, where they had their only daughter, Blythe, in 1978. In 1985, the family of five made the permanent move to Novi, Michigan, where Margaret worked diligently to build a place they called home. Ask anyone who knew Margaret to describe her and they will tell you that she was the nicest person they knew. She was quick to make friends and people were naturally drawn to her; her easy smile and kindly face were reassuring beacons to everyone she met. Once in Novi, Margaret and Dale joined a newcomers group and began a lifelong friendship with neighbors with monthly card games. Her blood relatives lived in British Columbia, but she considered her Novi friends to be her family as well. They traveled together, took care of each other, attended the baby showers and bridal showers for each other’s kids, and even spent holidays together. They’ve continued to play cards together several times a year for nearly 40 years. Margaret wanted to return to teaching but couldn’t in the United States without a college degree. She graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1989 with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. She found work as a popular substitute teacher, mostly in South Lyon Schools, and often in the special education classrooms. During this time, Margaret was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Later, as her ability to walk was impacted, she decided it wasn’t safe for her to teach, which wasn’t fair for her students, so she quit. With her children in school, Margaret devoted her spare time to volunteering at the church, Covenant Baptist Church and later Orchard Hills Baptist Church, which later became Legacy Church. She also was a gifted seamstress. She made her own wedding dress along with the bridesmaids and flower girl dresses, and later made her daughter’s wedding dress — including removing the lace sleeves off of her own wedding dress and incorporating them into her daughter’s. She made clothes for her children and prayer squares and dresses for little girls to be sent to a mission in Africa. She also crocheted blankets for almost everyone she knew until her hands wouldn’t allow her to do that anymore. Dale then bought her an embroidery machine, and so family and friends received an embroidered apron, sometimes many aprons, including her grandkids, who had special bibs for every day of the week. Even with her multiple sclerosis, Margaret refused to slow down. She and Dale continued to travel, just as they always had, with biannual trips to visit her sisters in British Columbia, twice by car and once by train, and well-planned cruises throughout the world. Margaret was adventurous, clever and honest, and generous with her time, her money and her love. And with her husband, Dale, she made that “good idea” into a life well-lived and well-remembered. Margaret is survived by her children, Stephen (Erin) Myers, Stewart Myers and Blythe Tipping; grandchildren, Isaac and Edmund Tipping, Nathaniel and Benjamin Myers; sisters, Janice Gillard, Sheila Stewart and Barbara (Clifford) duFresne; and brother-in-law, Hank Germer, and sister-in-law, Carole (Horace) MacQueen. She is preceded in death by her parents, John Allan and Mary Young Stewart (nee Blyth), and in-laws, Dudley Dale Myers Sr. and Margaret Myers (nee Coffey); her husband, Dudley Dale Myers Jr.; sister, Heather Germer; son-in-law, Peter Tipping; and by brothers-in-law, Dale Gillard and David Lloyd. Gathering of family and friends at O'Brien/Sullivan Funeral Home, 41555 Grand River Avenue, Novi, Michigan on Saturday, May 18, 2024 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM followed by a memorial service at 4:00 PM. Memorial donations may be made to the National MS Society. or Pulmonary Hypertension Association.

Margaret E. Myers

March 5, 1945 - April 14, 2024