Margaret Howard

MARGARET RICKS WEEKS HOWARD IDAHO FALLS, ID - Margaret Ricks Weeks Howard, 96, transcended this life on Friday, May 30, 2003, at the Good Samaritan Center in Idaho Falls. She was born June 8, 1906 in Clawson, Teton County, Idaho, and was the third daughter and fourth child of the eight children of Wallace Ricks and Helen Irene Crandall Ricks. The family resided in Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming, but she lived most of her life in Swan Valley, Idaho. She met Thomas Milburn Weeks, and they were married on May 19, 1927. They were later blessed to receive their four children and spent most of their lives in Swan Valley in the ranch house that they built for their family. Thomas passed in 1985, and, several years later, she married Jack Howard. Margaret's life spanned a great many years and was characterized by her love of children, family, teaching, gardening, writing and an abundance of other endeavors, but it was also one of hard work, raising food, cooking for hired mean and caring for her home. Margaret was a beloved schoolteacher, and many of her students still remind her family members just how much of an effect she had on their lives. Additionally, this love of teaching extended into her religion as she taught many Sunday School classes both faithfully and effectively. She was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and even served a mission in Alabama. She was a published and accomplished poet and an active member of the Idaho Writers League. She wrote with wit, humor, compassion, command of the language, and an understanding of human emotion that pervaded her works. She was also quite a proficient gardener, but, even in the garden, her love of poetry and teaching was apparent as she taught her daughter, Barbara, to memorize whole poems while they picked berries together. Margaret will be remembered always, by family and friends alike, as being kind, hospitable, hardworking, persistent, loving, and a wealth of other adjectives that would describe her more eloquently than can I. She will truly be missed but perhaps some comfort may be found in these words from her poem entitled, "The Empty House:" "I am not dead," she said, "I have gone home, And we are separated just for now." She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Thomas Milburn Weeks, siblings, Wayne Ricks, Merle Tolk, Inez Curtis, Reed Ricks, Glen Ricks, Keith Ricks and Ross Ricks, and her second husband, Jack Howard. Surviving are: Son: Dr. Byron T. Weeks, Idaho Falls, ID Daughter: Janis Thornburg, Red Oak, IA Daughter: Barbara Beckman, Idaho Falls, ID Son: Winston Weeks, Salt Lake City, UT Many beloved nieces and nephews, 15 Grandchildren, 28 Great Grandchildren, 1Great Great Grandchild. Funeral Services will be at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 4, 2003, at the Palisades LDS Ward, Highway 26 in Swan Valley, with Blair Jacobson officiating. The family will visit with friends Wednesday beginning at 10:00 a.m. at the church. Burial will be in Fielding Memorial Park under the direction of Wood Funeral Home.