Margaret Abel Elam

May 21, 1923 - February 3, 2013

Margaret Abel Elam, 89, of Cape George Colony died peacefully on Sunday, February 3, at Life Care Center, Port Townsend.

Margaret Abel was born in Pueblo, Colorado, on May 21, 1923.

After she completed a Master of Education at Syracuse University in 1968, she and her three children moved to Honolulu, Hawaii, where Margaret taught fourth grade at Kamehameha Schools.

Margaret and Professor Emeritus A. Richard "Dick" Elam married in Honolulu on June 5, 1977. They moved to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where Dr. Elam chaired the broadcasting department, University of North Carolina.

In 2001, Margaret and Dick Elam moved from Chapel Hill to Cape George.

Survivors include her husband; two sons, Richard Burch and Robert Burch, both of Bend, Oregon; daughter Margo Burch Makowicki of Seattle; four stepchildren, Sheryl Elam Pappa of Winnsboro, Texas, Cynthia Elam Darwin of Galveston, Texas, Michaela Elam Wood and Kelson Richard Elam, both of Heath, Texas.

Also surviving are 18 grandchildren and 22 great-grandchildren who knew Margaret as "TuTu," the Hawaiian name for "grandmother."

A memorial service for Margaret Elam will be held on Saturday, March 2, at 11 a.m. at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 1020 Jefferson Street, Port Townsend, WA 98368.

A reception at Cape George Colony, where she lived for 11 years, will follow at the Colony clubhouse, 61 Cape George Drive, Port Townsend, at 1 p.m.

The family asks that remembrances be given to St. Paul's Episcopal Church or the Young Marine Art Search Scholarships through the Pacific Northwest Art School, 15 Northwest Birch Street, Coupeville, WA 98239.

A second memorial celebration will also be held April 20 in Heath.