Margaret Ellen Cook Maurer
1924 – 2008
Margaret Ellen Cook Maurer of Smithfield, Pa., died on Friday, March 28, 2008, at 3:58 p.m. in… 1924 – 2008
Margaret Ellen Cook Maurer of Smithfield, Pa., died on Friday, March 28, 2008, at 3:58 p.m. in Shelbyville, Indiana. She was 84 and a lifelong Lutheran.
Born on January 10, 1924, in Spencer, North Carolina, the daughter of Horace Lacey Cook and Myrtle Wagner Viola Cook.
Margaret graduated from Spencer High School in 1941 and from Bowling Green (Kentucky) College of Commerce with a degree in business in 1944.
While continuing her studies at the University of Chicago School of Business, she accepted the job of Campus Lutheran Student Worker. There she met theologian Joseph Sittler, who inspired her to pursue studies in the Bible at seminary. She studied Old Testament under Jacob Myers and graduated from Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pa., in 1948 as one of the first three female student pioneers.
On September 5, 1948, she married Beryl Blake Maurer, and became a Lutheran pastor’s wife. The family lived in St. Clara, West Virginia, Knoxville, Tennessee, Pine Grove Mills, Pa., Dillsburg, Pa., Camp Hill, Pa., and Wheaton, Illinois, before moving to Smithfield, Pa., in 1966.
Her life was devoted to non-paid service to the Lutheran Church and her five children and 14 grandchildren.
She filled various church roles including Confirmation teacher, Sunday School Superintendent, Bible School Superintendent, Church Pageant Writer and Director and even organist, but perhaps her most treasured role was writing devotions for women’s groups.
She taught business education for the Albert Gallatin School District for 22 years where she loved being part of a team working to teach young people to be useful adults. In 1992, her Personal Typing class at Tri Valley High received national recognition as a Cortez Peters Championship Typing Class.
In June 2000, she retired from school teaching to her farm in Smithfield, Pa., but continued volunteer service to her church, St. Paul Lutheran in Morgantown, West Virginia.
She was a member of The Progress Club in Point Marion, Pa., and a Paul Harris Fellow.
She is survived by her five children: Ruthanna Jenkins and her husband, Ron, of Charlottesville, Virginia, Rebekah Donaldson and her husband, John, of Inola, Oklahoma, Jonathan Maurer and his wife, Susanne, of Dunstable, Massachusetts, Marianne O’Neill and her husband, Robert, of Shelbyville, Indiana, and David Maurer and his wife, Doreen, of Bridgeport, West Virginia; 14 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
A Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, May 10, 2008, at 11 a.m. in St. Paul Lutheran Church, 308 Baldwin Street, Morgantown, West Virginia.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to St. Paul Lutheran Church designated for use by the church or for Mission Work of Women of the ELCA.