Maggie Mcgovern

Maggie and I met at Monterey Peninsula College in California and had our first date on May 16, 1972. Three years later we were married to begin a family. Over the next 10 years we had our four wonderful children. We moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho, in 1985.

Maggie had a Bachelor's of Science in Microbiology and later a Master's of Science in Environmental Science. She worked for SAIC, an INL subcontractor, for more than 10 years managing the tricky job of disposing of nuclear waste.

Maggie is the finest person I have ever known, my wife and my best friend. What I first noticed about her was her striking beauty, then, as we talked I discovered her intelligence, her humor, and her integrity. Through the years she showed her boundless love for me and our children. As a mother, she sensed things about the kids that I wouldn't have noticed. Our youngest had a heart defect. Maggie noticed she didn't look right and was acting strangely. Katie was 5 weeks old. I just thought she had a cold and was uncomfortable with it. Maggie took her to a pediatrician. He rushed her to River View Hospital. She was in atrial fibrillation, that is, her heart electricity was short-circuiting in her atria and her heart was beating almost 300 times per minute. In another 24 hours, Katie would have been dead. Our son, Frank, when he was 2 years old, began getting sequential bouts of pneumonia. Again, for the first one, I just thought a cold. Maggie took him to the doctor and he recovered. I'm not a bad parent, just nowhere near as good as she was.

Her sense of humor was sharp and always ready. A few months ago we were driving home from town and she said to me, "You know, Frank, we have been together for more than 40 years, and we still make each other laugh." She stayed that way until the end.

Maggie is preceded in death by her parents, Julius John Connelly from Saskachewan, Canada, and Eileen Prendeville Connelly from Castleisland, County Kerry, Ireland. They met during the Second World War in Belfast, Ireland. Julius was in the Canadian Navy. They married in Ireland and moved first to Canada, then nine years later to Minnesota. She was raised in severe poverty after her father died when she was 12. Her mother raised the six kids with very little, other than her love and support. Also preceding her in death were her brother, John Connelly, and her sister, Flora Connelly Watson, who died of Ovarian Cancer also. Surviving Maggie are her husband, Frank McGovern, her four children, Eileen McGovern and Paul, her husband, Dusty Frank McGovern and his wife, Cady McCowin McGovern, Bill McGovern, and Kathleen McGovern Postlethwaite and her husband, Jason Postlethwaite, and three grandchildren — Margaret, Quinn, and Daniel. They were the light of her eye. Also surviving her are her two brothers, Bill Connelly and his wife, Peggy, and Mike Connelly and his wife, Jill, from Annandale, Minnesota, and her older sister, Mary Connelly Brown and her husband, Bernie, of Hillsboro, Oregon.

Maggie approached the world practically, accepting what she could prove as a scientist, what she could observe as a person, and recognizing that there was too much unknown to draw philosophical conclusions and claim additional knowledge. She saw everything with humor and her acute intellect, and loved life and discovery.

In her last decade, which we didn't know we would even have together, we traveled to every continent, but Africa, which was next on the itinerary. Everywhere we went, she made friends, learned cultures, bits of language, and noticed that people were far more alike than different. She puzzled over the strife in the world, after meeting others from different cultures and seeing mostly similarities. She read extensively and could argue almost any topic with fact and evidence.

Mostly she loved people she knew. There were no bounds to her love for the people she knew. Her passing steals a bit of brightness in this world. She will be missed as long as people who knew her live. We miss you. We love you.

According to her wishes, Maggie will be cremated, and her ashes spread by the South Fork, close to our house. A memorial service will be at Wood Funeral Home on Saturday, July 16, 2016, at 2 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to the American Cancer Society in her name.

Memorial Gathering will be held