Margaret Jean (Bezinque)
McPhail
Oct 16, 1931 - Feb 26, 2020
Posted by Jo Aguirre
© Phil & Donna Whitaker |
Abernathy Aaron
Funeral Home
Cresent, OK
Margaret was the oldest of three siblings, sister Clementina and brother Henry Lee. Her father was a coal miner in the mines around Henryetta. Her grandfather was a coal miner as well, who emigrated from France. He later lost his life at an early age in a mine cave in. Margaret’s mother was the daughter of Italian immigrants who also came to the United States searching for a better life.
Margaret grew up in southeast Oklahoma spending her early years in the tight knit French/Italian community of Schulter surrounded by relatives. She learned to play the piano and accordion and played basketball and softball for her school teams. Unlike most young women in the 1940s, upon graduating from high school, Margaret hopped on a bus and headed for Oklahoma’s A & M College in Stillwater. Margaret graduated with a degree in home economics and began her career at Davenport as a high school home economics teacher. It was while she was at Davenport that she met the love of her life Dr. Gene McPhail, the principal. Due to the stigma of teachers dating administrators, they spent most of their courtship in Shawnee. Gene always swore that Margaret was the persistent one, repeatedly asking him to marry her, to which he finally relented. All that knew Gene and Margaret, knew that it was Gene just teasing, and he was really the pursuer.Services are Monday March
2 at 10 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Crescent with graveside at
3:30 p.m. at Mountain Park Cemetery.
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