Margaret Birk

Margaret Birk -CORTE MADERA, CA - Margaret Woods Birk (nee Margaret Lucyne Woods) passed away in her home at Aegis Assisted Living in Corte Madera, California on Friday, May 18, 2012 at the age of 85. -Born in Monticello, Georgia on November 8, 1926, she was the only child of Susie Fountain Woods and John Clinton Woods. Margaret moved to Reynolds, Georgia, her mother's birthplace, at the age of nine when her father died, and she grew up on the Fountain family farm. Her grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Fountain, was a master farmer who adored Margaret, and she loved living on the farm with her large extended family. -Margaret graduated from Reynolds High School at the age of 16, earned a Bachelor's Degree in Mathematics from Wesleyan College for women in Macon, Georgia at age 20, and received her Master's Degree in Education from the University of Georgia in 1948 at age 22. -Margaret had a strong sense of adventure and a life-long love of learning and traveling. Following college, she and some girlfriends drove from Georgia to California where Margaret worked as a waitress at the Zephyr Cove Restaurant in Lake Tahoe, California. Determined to "see the world," she entered the teaching profession and taught mathematics on U.S. military bases in Paris, France, Frankfurt, Germany and Puerto Rico where she met her beloved husband, Robert A. (Bob) Birk. Margaret and Bob were married in Reynolds, Georgia on August 11, 1957. Bob's career as an officer in the U.S. Air Force took Margaret and Bob from Puerto Rico to Goldsboro, North Carolina, then to Sacramento, California and Omaha, Nebraska, and eventually to Honolulu, Hawaii. Margaret taught mathematics at Kamehameha School in Honolulu for 15 years before retiring to Tiburon, California in 1981. While living in Honolulu, she and Bob were active members of the Hawaii Yacht Club and enjoyed sailing around the Hawaiian Islands with friends on their boat, the Meotai. -After she retired from teaching, Margaret was involved in numerous activities in Marin County, California, including the Outdoor Art Club, a nonprofit women's organization dedicated to preserving the natural scenery of Mill Valley, California and the surrounding country, the Newcomers Club and the American Association of University Women. She volunteered at the de Young Museum in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park and enjoyed visiting museums wherever she traveled. She and Bob traveled widely in Europe and Asia and enjoyed socializing with friends and entertaining guests at the San Francisco Yacht Club near their home of 20 years in Belvedere, California. -Margaret had a keen mind, a ready smile and a generous spirit, making friends wherever she lived and traveled. She was a master bridge player who also enjoyed teaching others to play. An avid rose gardener, she freely shared the bounty of her backyard rose bushes. She enjoyed reading and belonged to several book groups and to a walking group of her Newcomers Club friends that, in later years, became a breakfast club that dubbed itself "The Fallen Arches." A Georgia peach who never lost her Southern accent or her gracious manner, Margaret stayed close to family and childhood friends, planning family reunions and visiting Georgia often. She loved learning and valued education, generously helping to educate cousins and grand nieces and nephews. -Margaret is survived by her husband of almost 55 years, Bob Birk of Belvedere, California, and many nieces, nephews and cousins. -A celebration of Margaret's life will be held at 11:00a.m. on Saturday, June 2, 2012 at the Goddard-McLeighton Funeral Home, 42 S. Collins Street, Reynolds, GA 31076. The family will be receiving friends at the funeral home from 10:00am until the funeral hour. Donations in Margaret's memory may be made to the Reynolds United Methodist Church, 12 E. Marion Street, Reynolds, GA 31076 or to the Alzheimer's Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Fl. 17, Chicago, IL 60601for research purposes. -You may sign the online guest register at www.goddardmcleighton.com -Goddard - McLeighton Funeral Home of Reynolds is in charge of arrangements.