Margaret Skipper Morgan McFadden

Margaret Skipper Morgan McFadden, 92, of Blacksburg, Va., passed away on Tuesday, December 2, 2009, at Montgomery Regional Hospital. She was born on April 27, 1917, in Putnam County, W.Va., to John and Mary Alice Skipper Morgan. Margaret was one of eight daughters, and as she was fond of saying, she was the "fifth down, fourth up." After graduating from high school in St. Albans, W.Va., in 1935 she attended a two-year business college in Charleston, W.Va., and then worked in the county agent's office in Winfield, W.Va., for several years. In 1942 she moved to Blacksburg, Va., to take a job with the war-time Agricultural Adjustment Administration.
In Blacksburg Margaret met Leonard "Mac" McFadden, a young mathematics professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute; they were married on May 6, 1944. In December 1948 the couple moved into the home they built on Dunton Drive, where they raised a family of four and where Margaret lived until 2008 when she moved to Showalter Center in Warm Hearth Village. She was a member of the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church and the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Margaret loved to dance, travel, and play golf, tennis, and bridge. She was a wonderful cook and hostess, an accomplished seamstress, and enjoyed all kinds of needlework, art, and craft projects. As a participant in a local therapy dog program, Margaret and her beloved Maltese, Allie, brought smiles to many residents at care facilities in the Blacksburg area. In a recent chat with her son Jim, she said she hoped that "when people think about me, they'll smile, maybe...think of how much fun we had over the years, think about me in special times and in good times."
She was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years, Leonard McFadden, who passed away in 1995. She is survived by her sisters, Harriet Taylor and Virginia Valentine, both of Hurricane, W.Va.; and her children, Lynne Johnson and husband, Mikkel Johnson, of Los Alamos, N.M., Barbara McFadden, of Beckley, W.Va., Mary Jane McFadden and husband, Horace Allen, of Powatan, Va., Jim McFadden and wife, Susan McFadden, of Warsaw, Va. She was "Mamaw" to grandchildren, Kara Johnson, Krista Johnson, Christopher George, Noah Allen, Michael Allen, and Morgan McFadden; and "Great-Mamaw" to great-grandchildren, Tyler, Lilly, and Alice George.
The family invites friends to celebrate Margaret's life at a memorial service at the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church, 11 a.m. on Saturday, December 12, 2009. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial contributions in Margaret's name be made to the Blacksburg Presbyterian Church Endowment Fund, P.O. Box 144, Blacksburg, Va. 24063. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home, Blacksburg, Va.