MARGUERITE HELEN MAY KING – DERSCH , PASSED AWAY AT THE FANNING CENTRE, CALGARY, ALBERTA FEBRUARY 22, 1997 AT THE AGE OF 80 YEARS.
MARGUERITE HELEN MAY BROWN WAS BORN IN BANFF, ALBERTA, ON APRIL 28, 1916. SHE WAS THE YOUNGEST CHILD OF ELIZABETH AND EDWARD BROWN. MARG, HAD AN OLDER SISTER, ALICE, AND TWO BROTHERS, TED AND HORRIE. SHE WAS AN ACTIVE GIRL WHO ENJOYED MANY PURSUITS FOUND RIGHT OUTSIDE HER DOOR, INCLUDING SKIING, SKATING, CANOEING AND HIKING. AS A TEENAGER AND YOUNG ADULT SHE WORKED AT A BAKERY IN BANFF AND THE HOMESTEADER INN AND HAD MANY STORIES TO TELL ABOUT THOSE TIMES. WITH THE ARRIVAL OF WORLD WAR II, MARG ENLISTED IN THE AIR FORCE AND WORKED IN THE CODES AND CIPHERS DEPARTMENT. THIS GAVE HER AN OPPORTUNITY TO SEE A VARIETY OF PLACES AS SHE WAS STATIONED ON VANCOUVER ISLAND AND CHARLOTTETOWN, PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND. SHE EVEN SPENT SOME TIME IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
AT THE AGE OF 29, MARG MARRIED HAROLD KING ON JULY 15, 1945. HAROLD HAD ALSO SERVED WITH THE FORCES AS A SHOOTING INSTRUCTOR THEY SETTLED IN VULCAN WHERE HAROLD WAS A CLERK IN THE FAMILY OWNED DRUG STORE. THOSE YEARS FOLLOWING THEIR MARRIAGE WERE BUSY TIMES AS MARG AND HAROLD HAD A YOUNG FAMILY OF THREE BOYS. BRYAN WAS BORN IN I948, FOLLOWED BY JIM IN 1949. THE YOUNGEST SON, DES, ARRIVED IN 1955. TRAGEDY FOLLOWED JUST FOUR YEARS LATER WHEN HAROLD PASSED AWAY, LEAVING MARG THE SOLE PARENT OF HER YOUNG FAMILY. WITH STRENGTH AND DETERMINATION SHE MANAGED TO PROVIDE FOR HER BOYS BY HERSELF. IN I970, MARGUERITE MARRIED MARTIN DERSCH, ORIGINALLY A RANCHER FROM GRANUM, WHO WAS AT THAT TIME THE FOREMAN OF THE COUNTY OF VULCAN’S ROAD CONSTRUCTION CREW. BY THIS TIME, BRYAN AND JIM WERE NO LONGER LIVING AT HOME AND DES WAS A STUDENT IN HIGH SCHOOL, SO MARG AND MARTIN WERE ABLE TO TRAVEL THROUGHOUT THE WESTERN PORTION OF CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES.
FOLLOWING MARTIN’S RETIREMENT FROM THE COUNTY, MARG AND MARTIN STARTED TO SPEND THEIR WINTERS IN WARMER LOCATIONS AND A FAVOURITE DESTINATION IN THE I980’S WAS A PLACE CALLED DESERT HOT SPRINGS IN CALIFORNIA. WITH ADVANCING AGE, BOTH MARG AND MARTIN REMAINED IN VULCAN YEAR-ROUND IN THE EARLY AND MID ’90’S AND MAINTAINED THEIR HOME UNTIL I995. IN SEPTEMBER OF 1995, MARG MOVED TO THE EXTENDED CARE CENTRE AT THE VULCAN HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WAS VISITED OFTEN BY HER HUSBAND AND FAMILY. HER HUSBAND, MARTIN, DIED ON MARCH 26, I996, AND FOLLOWING HIS DEATH, MARG WAS MOVED TO THE FANNING CARE CENTRE IN CALGARY. HER HEALTH GRADUALLY DECLINED AND SHE PASSED AWAY ON FEBRUARY 22, 1997.
BELOVED MOTHER OF THREE SONS BRYAN KING AND JIM KING OF CALGARY AND DESMOND (SHEILA) KING OF STONY PLAIN, THREE GRANDCHILDREN LINNDEN, DAVIS AND LORNE KING AND STEP-DAUGHTER FAY DERSCH OF CALGARY.
A CELEBRATION OF LIFE SERVICE WAS HELD FRIDAY FEBRUARY 28, 1997 AT 1:30 P.M. AT ST. ALDHELM’S ANGLICAN CHURCH, VULCAN WITH REV. CANON DON BINNEY OFFICIATING.
INURNMENT VULCAN CEMETERY AT A LATER DATE.
IF FRIENDS SO DESIRE, MEMORIAL TRIBUTES MAY BE MADE TO THE DR VERNON FANNING CENTRE, 722-16 AVE. N.E. CALGARY, T2E 6V7.
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS IN CARE OF VULCAN FUNERAL HOME.