Margaret White – Cisne

102-year-old Margaret White, also known by some as Margueritte Jones, died at Cisne Rehabilitation and Health Care Center on Tuesday, September 24.

Margaret was the youngest of five children born to Clayton and Effie (Barker) Cooper on March 22, 1917. One sister Ruby (Earl) Flexter, three brothers Lester (Louise Hebner), Glen (Helen Kneff) and Orton (Milderene Jones) have all preceded her in death.

She was an active member of Gunion Christian Church from an early age. She married Ivan Jones on January 8, 1941. Ivan passed away at Fairfield Hospital after ten days in 1965. They lacked one month of twenty-five wonderful years together. To this union was born two daughters Patricia Ann and Shirley Ann.

Pat married Larry Barnes and had one son LaMarr and two daughters Julie and Kathy. LaMarr married Maria and had Jonathon, Lara, and Nate. Jonathon and Ashley have two children, Ethan and Kaleb. Lara and Matt Ekstrom have two children, Emma and Isak. Julie is married to Jack Delaney and they have one son Jacob. Jacob is married to Lindsay. Kathy and Frank Huerta have one son Yorick. Pat’s husband Larry Barnes passed away in 1998 and Pat passed away in 2012, both in Peoria where they lived close by.

Shirley married Thomas Croyl and had Robert Ivan and Bonnie Lou. Bob married Danica and they have two daughters Crystal and Heather. Crystal is married to Joseph Dozier. Heather and Christopher Kanapakis have one daughter Fiona. Bob is now married to Tanya and has step-children. Shirley passed away in 1999 at the age of 52, after doctors predicted she would never make it past age 16, as she was a severe diabetic and totally deaf from birth. She lived a happy life in spite of her many hospital visits and graduated from Jacksonville School for the Deaf. Her husband Tom is still living in Oklahoma.

Following her first husband Ivan’s death in 1965, Margaret married Bill Ulm in 1970, and they had two happy years before Bill’s death. Later she married Stanley White and they had fifteen wonderful years before his passing after six weeks in Springfield hospital. That was Stanley’s first marriage. He loved Margaret and Ivan’s family as his own and she likewise loved all his nieces and nephews as her own. Later Margaret married Hardy Sledge after his wife passed away. They were close friends as both had a deaf daughter. That marriage only lasted a short time, but the family’s love never ended.

Margaret is survived by her grandchildren: LaMarr (Maria) Barnes, Julie (Jack) Delaney, Kathy (Frank) Huerta, Robert (Tanya) Croyl, Bonnie Croyl, and great grandchildren: Jonathon, Lara, Nate, Jacob, Yorick, Crystal, and Heather, and five great-great grandchildren: Ethan, Kaleb, Emma, Isak, and Fiona. Several nieces, nephews, cousins and friends also survive.

Preceding her in death were her parents, siblings, husbands, daughters Patricia and Shirley and son in law Larry Barnes.

Funeral services for Margaret White will be at 1pm on Saturday, September 28, at the Hosselton-Meridith Funeral Home in Cisne, with Visitation beginning at 11 a.m. that morning. Burial will be in Gunion Cemetery.

Memorials may be given to the Gunion Christian Church and will be accepted at the funeral home.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at www.meridithfuneralhome.com