- Date Of Birth: April 28, 1925
- Date Of Death: November 5, 2016
- State: Montana
Margaret Wyness Suek, 91, of Great Falls, passed away in her home of natural causes, surrounded by the love of her family on Saturday, November 5, 2016.
Margaret grew up on the prairies of Kevin, Montana. At two years old she had a one-time trip back to Scotland with her mother, Daisy Clark, and her brother, Robert, who was four years old. The Scottish tradition continued in her life as scones and orange marmalade made frequent appearances on the family table. Her father Robert Clark taught her the Highland Fling and the Sword dance which she performed in full regalia as a teenager to the violin music of Scotty Jenkins at community centers, schools, and churches. She was also a tap dancer and played the piano performing with her brother on the violin.
Life in Kevin grew more difficult as her father became an invalid from pernicious anemia and her mother began working several small jobs to help the family. Margaret helped to clean the Kevin schools pushing big oil mops across the wooden floors after school each day. Egg money kept the music lessons going for her and her brother.
She graduated from Oilmont High School and began nurses’ school training in Great Falls, where she met and married James Peterson, who was just back from the war effort and was about to go to school in Bozeman on the GI bill to be an electrical engineer. Their daughter, Sandra, was 22 months when tragedy struck with his death in a freak accident at the college. Margaret’s father also passed away at the same time and she and her mother came to live together in Great Falls in 1948. Margaret began a long work career. She worked at Penney’s, then as a secretary at Chevrolet Motors, then at Volker’s. She was an usherette with a flashlight at the Civic Center Theatre at night.
She was married again, after 8 years, to Herb Suek, a dry land wheat and cattle rancher, and began the life of a farm wife on Bootlegger Trail Route. She cooked for harvest crews, drove grain trucks, washed the cream separator. She and Herb Suek had two sons, Rick and Gary who began their lives on the farm. She had a successful bout with breast cancer a radical mastectomy and within that month, once again tragedy struck as Herb was killed in a small plane accident between Great Falls and Helena.
The boys were 9 and 7 then and Margaret bought a home across from Valley View School and moved in from the farm.
She was an advocate for healthy living, exercising into her 80s at the Peak in Great Falls and eating a healthy diet which included many vitamins and herbs. She loved wearing high heels and dressing up for work. She never wore a pair of jeans anywhere. She took up tap dancing again in her 70s.
Throughout her life, a strong unshakable faith in God kept her going through all the challenges. She had a bible by her bed, and a medallion always on her key chain that said, “Christ is the key”. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Great Falls for 62 years. There she continued her love of music by joining the choir where she sang for 60 years until she was 91. Margaret loved going to church and was present almost every Sunday of her life.
Margaret loved concerts, Broadway shows that combined singing and dancing, and dining out with her family especially at Eddies Supper Club.
Margaret blessed her children and all who knew her with a kind, gentle spirit. She never gave up on anyone. Thank you, mom, you were the best!
She is survived by her family, daughter, Sandra (Mike) Meade, of Newport, WA; sons, Rick (Tammy) Suek, of Great Falls, and Gary (Sandee) Suek, of Fort Benton; six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Margaret was preceded in death by her spouse, James Peterson; her spouse, Herb Suek; and her grandson, Adam Suek.
