Margaret H. Harmon

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Margaret H. Harmon passed away peacefully on January 1, 2023, in the warm embrace of her God and her family, released from the shackles of Alzheimer’s disease. 

Born on December 22, 1930, in Oak Park, Illinois, she was the younger of two daughters of James and Mary (nee Daly) Hanley. Marge and her sister Mary graduated from Ascension School before each, in turn, learned to navigate the multiple buses that took them to Immaculata High School on Lake Shore Drive at Irving Park Road. Marge then earned a bachelor’s degree from Mundelein College, now part of Loyola University Chicago.

 It was through her best friend at Immaculata that Marge eventually met Don Harmon, her only true love, whom she married in January 1964. The wedding was on a Thursday at noon, such was their eagerness to begin their life together. They spent one year living the glamorous life in an apartment on Sheridan Road, overlooking Lake Michigan. Then they made their inevitable return to Oak Park to start their family surrounded by their own parents and siblings. 

 Sadly, Don passed away in 1977 after a hard-fought battle with cancer, leaving Marge widowed at age 46 with three children ages 10, 7 and 5. While their marriage was short, their love was eternal, and after Don’s death, Marge chose a selfless devotion to raising her children in their Elmwood Ave. home without an ounce of self-pity. She said more than once throughout the years that she tried so hard to fill the role of a dad that she might have forgotten how to be a mom. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, she was more likely to be found mowing the lawn, installing a ceiling fan or stripping woodwork than cooking, knitting or decorating, but her failure to fit the era’s stereotype of a mother was no failure at all, and it did nothing to lessen her kids’ view of her as a nearly perfect mom. 

 Eventually Marge went back to work as a church secretary and later a bookkeeper for a series of small businesses in and around Oak Park. Every January through April for roughly 20 years, she also volunteered preparing income taxes for seniors through a program of the Oak Park Township. She was happy and honored to serve her community in that way.

 But time with friends and family was the unrivaled joy of Marge’s life. Besides being a wonderful mother, she was a loyal “Bookie” (the nickname for her bookclub friends who rarely read books but never failed to meet), a favorite aunt to her 25 nieces and nephews, and a one-of-a-kind “Gram” to her eight grandchildren. She was loved beyond measure for the way she loved others, as well as for her reliability, kindness, intelligence, strength and, perhaps most of all, her masterful wit that could make a bad day better and a good day brilliant. 

 Marge is survived by her son Don and his wife Teresa (Teri); daughter Julia and her husband Jeff Bell; daughter Elizabeth (Liz) and her husband Christopher Miller, as well as grandchildren Don, Frances and Maggie Harmon; Daniel, Sean and Maeve Bell; and Emmet and Declan Miller. All of them—as well as her nieces and nephews and their families—celebrate Marge’s reunion with her beloved husband and a whole generation of Harmons who went ahead, to wait for her with cocktails and playing cards at a joyfully crowded dining room table in heaven.

 Visitation, Friday, January 6, from 4 to 9 p.m. at The Elms Funeral Home, 7600 W. Grand Ave. (Turn north at 76th Ave.), Elmwood Park. Funeral prayers, Saturday, January 7, at 9:15 a.m. at The Elms, then proceeding to St. Giles Catholic Church, 1045 Columbian Ave., Oak Park, for a Mass to begin at 10 a.m. Interment at Queen of Heaven Cemetery will be private. In lieu of flowers, a donation in Marge’s name to Trinity High School would be appreciated. For information, 708-453-1234 or www.elmsfh.com.