Margaret Serrantino

Margaret Serrantino passed away peacefully on March 30th with her husband Salvatore Serrantino and daughter Sabrina Serrantino at her side. Margaret attended Alameda High School in Northern California, where she was an honors student, member of the Order of the Rainbow Girls, Captain of the Girls Rifle Team, and a member of several youth service organizations. She took her undergraduate work at UCLA and Berkeley in Criminology before joining Planning Research Corporation in Santa Monica, and then joining Home Savings America where she met her husband. She was a writer and a long term member of the Screen Writers Federation of America. In 1973, Margaret, her husband, and their sheepdog Puffy moved to Beverly Hills from their home on the ocean in Malibu. The whole family and she especially, deeply loved the ocean. For almost forty years she resided in Beverly Hills and looked forward to their summers in Hawaii and enjoyed swimming with rainbows of fish along the reefs. The characters in Margaret's screenplays were formidable spirits, often facing challenges dovetailing with historic events. Margaret was especially compelled by the experience of the Native American people, writing about the profound challenges of the Trail of Tears and the early American pioneer experience. When asked to modify the spirit of her work, Margaret declined the opportunity to translate this particular story to film. Towards the end of her life, she lovingly labored on a story exploring the immigrant experience and forms and meanings of American patriotism. For nearly thirty years, Margaret cheerfully volunteered in support of teachers and a variety of community and education-related initiatives. She served in a great many roles: Girl Scout Leader, President of the Hawthorne School Parent Teacher Association (PTA), President of the Beverly Hills High School PTA, and Delegate to the California State PTA. She tirelessly lent her energies to fundraising for the schools, support of city government campaigns, and ballot initiatives advancing re-allocation of property taxes to education budgets. Her family and friends will remember her ebullience, generosity of spirit, sense of humor, and creativity. She is profoundly missed and will remain in our hearts and memories. A memorial service will be held at 11:00am on Saturday, April 3rd 2010 at Cabot & Sons Funeral Home in Pasadena. See www.cabotandsonsfh.com for information & directions. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to www.FreedomFromHunger.org