Margaret Briggs

Margaret Briggs, age 101, died Friday, December 13, 2024, at Brookstone Acres in Columbus.

Mass of Christian Burial is 10:30 a.m. Thursday, December 19, 2024, at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Columbus. Visitation is Wednesday from 3:00-5:00 p.m. with a 5:00 p.m. vigil service, all at McKown Funeral Home. Burial will take place Thursday at 2:30 p.m. in the St. Michael's Cemetery in Spalding, NE.

Donations to Margaret Briggs' funeral fund would be appreciated in lieu of flowers, but the presence of family & friends at this celebration of a long full life is the kindest gift.

Margaret Cecelia Carraher was born on June 18, 1923, in Spalding, NE to Thomas & Edna (Ford) Carraher, the 7th of 11 children. She attended Spalding Academy High School, & at 17 completed the Shorthand Class of 1939-1940 & received an expert award for transcribing 140 wpm, & continued using shorthand the rest of her life. After graduating high school, she attended St. Catharine Junior College in Kentucky. At age 19, Margaret began her career with the U.S. War Dept., Ordnance, Tank Automotive Command, worked for 2 Brigadier Generals until 1946, & attended night school studying navigation, theory of flight & meteorology. She received her private pilot's license in March of 1944, & was disappointed when WASPS deactivated as she was set to join.

She married Paul F. Briggs in 1946, continued to work as an executive secretary for private industries in Michigan until 1954, when she quit to support her husband's endeavors in his real estate brokerage. She obtained a sales license in real estate, & carried her babies in a papoose sling while tending the business. She "retired" to a sod farm with her husband 1965-1967, until the economy demanded her return to business. She was widowed in 1974, lost her home in a fire the following year, & was taken in by her youngest brother Denny & his wife Adele in Rochester, MI until she got on her feet financially. When Detroit became a rust belt, & the layoffs of satellite industries came in 1983, Margaret moved to Silver Spring, MD to live with her sister Mary Todd. Her ultimate retirement came in 1989, & in 1992 Margaret & Mary moved to Columbus to be near family, buying a house across the lane from their sister Teresa. Margaret's daughter moved to Columbus to care for & assist Margaret in the summer after Mary's death in 2010, & perpetuated her independence until her transfer to the wonderfully skilled, caring staff of Brookstone Acres in September 2024.

Margaret was born in the administration of Calvin Coolidge, witnessed the Dust Bowl & the Great Depression, participated in the war effort, & worked tirelessly in an era when women rarely worked. She battled skin cancer, but was unusually healthy until very late in her 101 years.

She learned & loved to dance with her brother Paul, played violin but gave it up for the piano, & wished she could play like her sister Ernie. While her younger sisters Betty & Teresa tended to indoor chores & housekeeping, she worked in the fields with her dad & brother RP. Margaret enjoyed sewing, gardening, golfing, bowling, crossword & jigsaw puzzles. She cherished her family, enjoyed singing at family gatherings & in church & wore out her recordings of Irish music at home. Margaret found joy & solace in Father Joe & St. Isidore's Church.

She is survived by her son Paul T. Briggs of Polk, her daughter, Elizabeth A. Briggs of Columbus, & sister-in-law, Adele J. Carraher of Auburn Hills, MI.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Paul F. Briggs; parents, Thomas & Edna Carraher; brothers, Albert, Michael, James, Paul, Dennis, & Robert Carraher; sisters, Ernestine Bumgardner, Mary Todd, Betty Allen, & Teresa Keuter.