A Fond Farewell to Margaret (Maggie) Elliot Drew

    


Margaret (Maggie) Elliot Drew passed away peacefully at the family home Dec. 26^th, 2012.

   








Born May 17^th, 1919 in Alma, MI, to Therese and Moses C. Elliot, she attended school and college in her home town (Alma College, class of 1940).  

The "Secret Silly Six" - Maggie's gang at Alma College.  Maggie is far left.

   

Maggie's nickname in the WACs was "Red."

She came of age at the eve of World War II and joined the WACs.  As a trained teacher, she was sent to Karachi, India to teach instrument flying to pilots who only knew how to fly “by the seat of their pants.”  She taught them to use radar so they could fly over the mountains when it was cloudy.

Mom and Dad at Crystal MI on their honeymoon.

She married Bruce A. Drew in 1948 while both were attending Wayne State University in Detroit on the GI Bill; they raised 6 children together.

   Nancy, Mary Jo, Jeni, Jon, Chris (not pictured: Timmy)and Prancer (or Dancer) in Nancy's lap.

      Maggie was known for many things; most prominently her deep commitment to world peace.  She worked at the American Friends Service Committee during the Vietnam era, assisting young men to obtain Conscientious Objector status.   She was a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and edited their Metro Newsletter for many years.  As a member of WILPF, she organized Mothers’ Day protests of ELF transmitter facilities in Wisconsin, where she had the courage to be arrested three times, and twice went to jail for her beliefs.  

Maggie at an ELF protest in Wisconsin.

  She was a founding member, with her husband Bruce, of the Linden Hills Co-op in Mpls.

Bruce and Maggie at the Co-op on 43rd Ave. So in Linden Hills

In later years, she was a member of Veterans for Peace.

 

Many thanks to the unknown journalist who took this picture of Bruce & Maggie.

"Constant Vigilance"

Maggie and Bruce taught their children to love each other, to laugh out loud, and to play a mean game of cards.  Maggie's rule was “constant vigilance” and her preferred strategy was to win every hand.  After becoming legally blind, she held the cards an inch from her eyes to play.  When you heard her say, “Heh, heh,” you knew it was all over.

Maggie was preceded in death by her parents; 3 siblings: Gertrude (Becker) Estes, Josephine Wright, and Charles Bernard (Bud) Elliot; also two sons: Timothy in 1965, and Christopher in 2012.  

She is survived by Bruce, her husband of 64 years, at the family home; her children: Nancy Drew (Jim Erickson) of Clifford, ND, Jeni Dawson (Rob) of Fort Nelson, BC;, Jon Drew (E) of Minnetonka, Mary Drew Powers (Brian) of Missoula, MT, and daughter-in-law Deb Drew of Chicago; three grandchildren: Ben Darrow (Amanda), Paul Darrow (Liz), and Christy Blankenship; and by three great-grandchildren: Dresdon Darrow, Bijou Margaret Darrow, and Ruby Jo Darrow; by her closest nephew Mike Wright (Michael Knock), and nephews and nieces, friends and neighbors too numerous to mention.

Thanksgiving 2011

    Maggie donated her body to the University of Minnesota; a memorial is planned for later in the year.

    In lieu of flowers, please donate in Maggie’s name to the local branch of the Women’s International League of Peace and Freedom:  Minnesota Metro Branch WILPF, PO Box 14752, Minneapolis MN 55414-0752 or you may email the treasurer, Leslie Rendl, at alteravista@usfamily.net.

We love you, Mom.

Do you have a story or memory of Maggie?  Feel free to add it to the comment section.

 

I hope Heidi does go to Washington

Hi Mary and Jeni,

Jim was being a good husband and  taking my quilt up to Faye's Henhouse where it lives in the winter.  And because he was going up to Mayville and Heidi Heitkamp was traveling through town on a last day turn out the vote trip he had her hold the quilt and he took her picture.  

Unfortunately he then had to explain to her that (for some reason) he wasn't giving her the quilt, just taking her picture with it.  

Heidi has to give it up.

He emailed me to explain why I had to give the quilt to her if she gets to Washington as the new Senator from North Dakota.

The race is supposed to be close, but Heidi is considered the underdog.

Tomorrow we will find out.  If she wins it would be amazing.

Love,

Nancy

Update:Uh-oh.  It is AMAZING!  She WON!

Exploring

Dear Nancy (and Jeni and Deb),
I liked your post about the Halloween pumpkins.  I believe that last time I had the leisure to carve pumpkins was in Minneapolis.  In Missoula, we only had 2 trick-or-treaters on Halloween.  This is not a neighborhood full of families.  But as Elliot will tell you, there are a lot of dogs.  There are also at least 4 other cats we've noted, one of which is a smallish gray tabby who looks a lot like Elliot, and even wears a collar with a bell, just like Elliot, except it is blue while Elliot's is red.  They sound exactly alike with their little "jingle, jingle, jingle."

The last six weeks have been hectic.  First, applying for a new job.  That necessitated an in-person interview, thus: a 5 hour drive to Missoula, spending a night on Christy's couch, a 3-hour interview next day, and then the drive back to Billings before noon so I could go to work.  But I got the job!  That meant another drive to Missoula to find a place to live, 

                    Clark Fork River in Missoula from the California St. walking bridge - 4 blocks from my house.  I can walk over this bridge to get to Ben and Amanda's in about 20 minutes.

then back to Billings to pack, 

Billings garage during packing frenzy.

then back to Missoula with the truck, unpacking, trying to stuff everything into a different space, then starting my new position at Missoula Public Library with a nice, steep learning curve.  But we like challenges, don't we?

So here is where we live now.

I miss the trees we had in Billings and so does Elliot, but he is getting used to the neighborhood. 

Missoula is an exciting place to live.  It has tons of arts, small funky businesses (like Alpine Canine, that takes your dog on an "adventure hike" while you're at work), and creative non-profits; The Innocence Project, for example. That's where Ben Darrow just got a new position - he started last week.  And they love markets.  They have four open-air markets in the summer, and now they're having two in the winter months as well, at the fairgrounds and in an old barn on the edge of town.

The thrift stores can't compare with the Goodwill in Billings.  I guess that too many people are into recycling here and so the competition is fierce!  In my vast experience (Whitefish, Kalispell, Billings, Missoula, and any I happen to get to visit), the Billings Goodwill on King Street is the best in the state.  And I'm thinking of writing a book, necessitating my visits to every thrift store in the state, heh heh.  Don't you think people would buy a book like that?    Would you like to finance my project?

However, I really can't complain regarding thrift stores - there is a thrift store right around the corner from my house AND I went to find my polling place today, at the Sr. Citizens Center - and there is a thrift store in there too!  Look:

They sell quilt blocks!  And material!  And Yarn!

I found some 84% wool/14% alpaca there!

I finally got my bike out and went exploring along the Riverfront Trail.

Looking south across the Clark Fork at Kiwanis Park.

Clark Fork Natural Area along the Riverfront Trail.

Snowboarders working hard to build a ramp at Caras Park.

I found that it's only 10 minutes riding time to get to work using that trail.

And there's been some leisurely hiking taking place too, in the Blue Mountain Recreation Area that's on the edge of town: 

 This  might be happening quite a bit, because now Christy has a dog!  Her name is Scout.

Brian, Christy, and Scout walking in Blue Mountain Recreation Area.

Much love to all of you.
Mary