Margaret Harper

1931 - 2015

(news article) Margaret Harper, a longtime employee in Toledo's division of taxation who was a leader among colleagues and in union, civic, and charitable groups, died Wednesday in Advanced Healthcare Center, Toledo. She was 84.

She had dementia, her son Henry said.

Mrs. Harper was a tax clerk for 31 years, retiring in 1988. She started out making entries in big ledgers and followed each advance in technology, from key punch to computer.

"My mother was a helper," her daughter Rosemary said. "She was a good Christian, and she's always been there for people.

"She loved her job," her daughter said. "She had six children, and all she could think about was working for her kids."

Mrs. Harper in 1983 was named president of Women in Toledo City Government, a group formed the previous decade to promote equal opportunities for female city workers. She was a longtime officer in her union, Local 7, American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, and was secretary-treasurer more than a decade.

She was active in the Toledo Area AFL-CIO and the Toledo Port Council. She was a former president and financial secretary of the Toledo affiliate of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. She also had been a board member of the Ohio affiliate.

She was a member of the Great Toledo Housing Coalition and of the Democratic Party's women's black caucus and its business and professional women's group.

Her aim was to improve the lives of others and to raise their consciousness, Henry Harper said.

"She brought people together, and she put them on track too," her son said.

She was in the Salvation Army's women's auxiliary and belonged to the Joy Maker Charity Club. She was a longtime member of Phillips Temple CME Church, where she'd been church secretary, a member of the usher board, and a missionary.

"She always told me to try to network with people," her daughter said. "Get out and meet people, and get out and help whoever you can. Don't sit at home."

She was born June 5, 1931, in Jackson, Tenn., to Mary and the Rev. William Carey. She attended Roman Catholic schools in Tennessee. She was a high school junior when the family moved to Toledo, where she graduated from Scott High School in 1948 and then attended the University of Toledo.

Favorite pastimes included finding antiques, often hidden in thrift stores, and redecorating the family's Old West End home with oriental carpets, crystal light fixtures, and mahogany furniture.

"That was her therapy - the hunt, pulling it together," said son Henry, who became an antiques dealer. "She'd get up Saturday morning for the hunt, and by Wednesday the house was redone."

She and her husband, Henry, married May 21, 1949. He died April 8, 1993.

Surviving are her daughters, Jacqueline Ferguson, Rosemary Harper, Gwendolyn Cargile, and Joyce Wilson; sons, Henry and Albert; 12 grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 6 until 8 p.m. Sunday in the Dale-Riggs Funeral Home. Services will begin at noon Monday in Phillips Temple CME Church, with a family hour at 11 a.m.

This is a news story written by Blade Staff Writer Mark Zaborney. Contact him at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.