Bainbridge resident Margaret “Margie” Ross Wilson Wheaton, age 66, died July 1 at her home.
She was born June 20, 1936 in Northfield, Minn. to Dr. Warren and Myrtle Nolan Wilson. She graduated from St. Mary’s Hall in Faribault, Minn. and from Wooster College in Wooster, Ohio, earning a bachelor’s degree in French.
Her junior year was spent at the University in Geneva, Switzerland. She completed secretarial training at Katherine Gibbs Secretarial School in New York City.
She taught French for two years at Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She then flew around the country with the vice-presidential candidate during the Goldwater-Miller campaign. After the election, she went to Washington, D.C. to work for a new organization called Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA).
Following her service with VISTA, she joined the Tom Dooley Foundation in California and Laos.
Upon returning from Laos, she accepted a position as executive secretary to the dean of students at the University of Minnesota.
A year later, she moved to Iran as the executive secretary for the head master of the Community School in Tehran. While holding that position, she also taught the school’s French classes. In 1971, while in Tehran, she met and married Larry Wheaton.
Margie and Larry returned to the US and settled in Sausalito, Calif. for 22 years before moving to Bainbridge Island six years ago.
Wherever she lived, she was active in her community. During their years in Sausalito, she was active in the Sausalito Presbyterian Church, the Sausalito Women’s Club and was a docent at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco.
On Bainbridge Island, she was chairwoman of the scholarship committee for Bainbridge Music and Arts, a member of PEO, and was active in the Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church. She was a vocalist, a pianist and flutist, a gardener and a docent at Bloedel Reserve.
She is survived by her husband Larry, Bainbridge Island; one brother, Warren Evans Wilson, Sun Lakes, Ariz., and one sister, Elizabeth (Kina) Wilson Holmberg, Plano, Texas, two nieces, Margaret Wilson Hetrick, Phoenix, Ariz. and Melissa Holmberg Downie, Plano, Texas; four nephews, Warren Wilson, Bellevue, Steven Wilson, St. Paul, Minn., John Holmberg, Rice, Minn. and David Holmberg, Upsala, Minn.
Memorial services will be held at 4 p.m. July 13 at Rolling Bay Presbyterian Church.
Donations can be made to the ALS Association at 6627 S. 191st Place, Suite F-106, Kent, WA 98032 or the Bainbridge Music and Scholarship Fund at BMA, P.O. Box 10011, Bainbridge Island, WA 98110.
Arrangements are under the direction of Kass Funeral Home.