Margaret Madsen

Margaret Lydia Madsen, age 93, beloved wife, mother, sister, teacher, grandmother and great- grandmother, passed away March 15, 2011 after a pleasant evening with family in Chico, CA. A Viewing for friends and family will be held at the Brusie Funeral Home, 626 Broadway in Chico from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 24, 2011. Funeral services will be on Friday, March 25, 2011 at 11:00 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 1450 East Lassen in Chico. Margaret was born April 5, 1917 to Morgan Usher Winters and Lucretia Vern Seely Winters in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, and was married in Manti, Utah on June 3, 1936 to Farrell Dean Madsen. Farrell and Margaret began their life and family together in Ephraim and Provo, Utah, and moved with their five children to Eugene, Oregon in 1956, where Farrell taught band at South Eugene High School. They moved to Chico in 1959, when Farrell joined the music faculty at Chico State College. She graduated cum laude in 1964 from Chico State and taught 3rd, 2nd, and 1st grade over 15 years at Concow Elementary School in the Golden Feather School District, Spring Valley Elementary, and Biggs Elementary. She loved children, her own and those she worked with as a teacher over the years. She was an avid reader, a devoted homemaker, a gifted teacher and mentor, and a remarkably cheerful person, even in her declining years. She was a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and spent many years as a volunteer worker and teacher in the children's, young women's, women's, and relief organizations of the church. Hers was a life of service and love for Farrell (who passed away in 1994); her brother, Arthur (also deceased); her children; their spouses; her 26 grandchildren; her 57 great-grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews, and brothers- and sisters-in-law. She is survived by her sons, Dean (of Logan, Utah), Niel (of Livermore, California), Kent (of Placerville, California), and Dale (of Chico), and her daughter, Marilyn Hutchings (of Fresno, California). We will all miss her ready smile, her gentle touch, and her delicious homemade dinner rolls.