Marguerite Lynch

MARGUERITE MARIA LYNCH May 5, 1908 July 21, 2006 Marguerite Prather was born to Charles Daniel and Maude May Jones Prather on May 5, 1908 in Billings, Montana where her father was a stock raiser and cattle buyer for the bank. She was raised on the Eagle Rock Ranch, Musselshell, Montana, where her mother ran a stagecoach stop in addition to ranch work. Marguerite and her older sister, Elsie, picked chokecherries, buffalo berries, and service berries and made jellies that they sold to stagecoach passengers. They and their brother Tom were educated on the ranch by a hired teacher. When she was around twelve years of age her mother and the three children left the ranch and made their way first to Collinsville, Oklahoma. Later they moved to Wayside, Kansas where she completed high school and met her future husband. After high school she completed one year of teacher training at Pittsburgh Teachers College in Kansas. She taught elementary school from 1927 1929 in a one room school near Wayside. In 1930, she returned to the ranch with her mother and taught high school at Melstone, Montana where she was also coach for the girls basketball team. It was not uncommon for her to break her way through snow drifts on the way to school in a Model A. She married Ben Spencer Lynch on June 18, 1931 in Forsyth, Montana. They returned to Wayside, Kansas where she taught elementary school from 1932-1935. Their first son, Dennis Lee was born in 1937, followed by Jerry Pat in 1939 at Coffeyville, Kansas. During World War 11 the family moved to Oregon where daughter Lynda Lou was born in 1944. She returned to elementary school teaching in 1947 at Welches, Oregon. She taught there until 1952 when the family moved to Springfield, Oregon where she taught. In 1954, she was among the first to begin teaching special education in public schools, this time in Great Bend, Kansas. She completed a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 1958 at Fort Hays State College and a Master of Science in Special Education in 1964. This was done while she was also employed as a full time special education teacher. In 1964-65 she was Director of Special Education in Topeka, Kansas schools. Following the death of her husband in 1965, she moved to Fort Collins, Colorado and taught special education in Poudre R-1 schools. She became Assistant Director of Special Education for the Colorado Department of Education 1967-1972. She then directed special education programs for the Board of Cooperative Services, Fort Morgan, Colorado. She was appointed an Instructor in Special Education at the University of Idaho, where she taught for several years prior to retirement. She authored several publications on classes for educationally handicapped and identifying potential learning disabilities in children. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Delta Kappa Gamma, and the American Association of University Women. She retired to Loveland, Colorado and was active in Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church ladies groups. She is survived by her children and their spouses as well as for grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. A Funeral Service will be held 10:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 25, 2006 at Allnutt-Hunter Chapel. Graveside ServicesInterment will be in the family plot at 10:00 a.m., Friday, July 28, 2006 Harrisonville Cemetery, Kansas next to her strongest supporter and faithful husband, Ben Lynch. Penwell-Gabel Ford-Wulf-Bruns Chapel are in care of Mrs. Lynch39;s Burial. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice of Larimer County in care of Allnutt-Hunter Chapel. Please view the online obituary, send condolences and sign the family guest book at www.allnutt.com.