Obituary of Margaret Ilene TAYLOR (nee OLIVER)

November 2, 1919 – Calgary, Alberta

December 22, 2019 – Calgary, Alberta

Margaret Ilene Oliver was born in Calgary on 2 November 1919. Marg and her older brother Jack were the children of Jean Elliot and Earle Oliver, Jean being one of 36 double cousins emanating from the Elliot and McAllister clans (Ontario homesteaders). Marg attended Sunalta school, Central High School, and the University of Manitoba where she earned a degree in Home Economics in 1941. After graduating, she interned as a dietician at the Vancouver General Hospital and returned to Calgary where she attended 6th Avenue Gospel Hall with her parents. There she met a young Air Force medic from Ontario named Charles who was immediately smitten by her. Marg gradually came round, and the two were married on November 13th, 1943. Being compatible in every way except caution (which Charles lacked and Marg had in abundance), they enjoyed 55 harmonious years together. They had five children: Gail (a missionary), Gordon (a pilot), Gary (a geophysicist), Glen (a Bible scholar) and David (a pilot). Eleven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren followed.

With Charles in demand at work, Marg had a significant ministry of managing a busy household by herself, though Marg’s Mom Jean was a mainstay and helped keep a clean and fun house. Almost every Sunday Marg opened her home to friends and newcomers to church, which by 1952 had become Bethany Chapel, which Charles and Marg helped found.

Marg was pretty, charming, unpretentiously dignified and had a great sense of humour. Her wisdom and openness won her many friends, including some younger women for whom she was an important Christian role model.

Marg enjoyed hiking in the Rocky Mountains, decoupage, entertaining, and, later in life, landscape painting. Marg also enjoyed road trips with her family; Charles drove while Marg, who had an astounding sense of geography, gave flawless directions from her head.

Marg and Charles’ home on Britannia Drive was a steady hub of continuity and hospitality from 1956 until 2000, after Charles died. Marg continued this legacy alone in Calgary’s Westhills district until 2014 when she transferred it to Staywell Manor in Garrison Woods.

Marg spent her final two years under the loving care of the remarkable staff at Age Care Glenmore.

Marg would rightly say her legacy and sense of meaning in life was her faith in Jesus Christ. By God’s grace she passed this legacy on to her five children and their families. It is to this LORD that she offers thanks and glory, along with an earnest invitation for others to find the same eternal life in Him that she now enjoys along with her beloved Charles and many earlier generations of family.

Funeral Services will be held at Bethany Chapel (3333 Richardson Way SW, Calgary, Alberta) on Saturday, January 4, 2020 at 1:00 P.M. Reception to follow in the Fireside Room. Condolences, memories and photos may be shared and viewed on Margaret’s obituary at www.McInnisandHolloway.com. If friends so desire, memorial tributes may be made directly to the Intervarsity Pioneer Camp Alberta - Camper Scholarships -  Box 660, Sundre, AB, T0M 1X0, Telephone: (403) 638-2660, www.pioneercampalberta.ca/give/donate/.

A tree will be planted in living memory of Margaret Taylor. McInnis and Holloway Funeral Homes, Park Memorial, 5008 Elbow Drive S.W., Calgary, AB T2S 2L5, Telephone: 403-243-8200.