Margaret McGrath

1927 - 2025

Margaret was born May 23, 1927, in Tacoma, WA, to Elsie Morrell Cowan Wilson and Harold Joseph Wilson. She died in Tacoma August 11, 2025, at age 98. She graduated from Federal Way High School and attended Pacific College, now George Fox University, in Newberg, OR.

Margaret started working in the classified department at the Tacoma News Tribune in 1947, taking ads with pencil and scratch paper. There she met Joe McGrath, a printer working in the composing room, and they married September 22, 1947. After taking a 13-year break to raise their children, do Cub Scout and Sunday school activities with them, participate in the PTA, sew and knit extensively, she returned to the newspaper. This time she saw pencil and paper give way to manual typewriter, selectric typewriter, optical scanner, and then keyboarding directly to the computer. She retired in 1984 as Classified Supervisor, leaving her more time to devote to her sewing, church and garden.

Margaret was a member of the Totem Yacht Club and DeLong PTA where she was 1965-66 president and received a Golden Acorn. She was a longtime member of Sixth Avenue United Methodist Church which in 2004 merged with St. Paul's UMC to form The Bridge, A Ministry of the United Methodist Church.

Margaret was preceded in death by Joe in 2018 after 71 years of marriage. She is survived by son Tom, with wife Jane, in Kirkland, and their children Katherine and Adam in Everett. Also surviving are daughter Nancy Brown with husband David in Albany, Oregon and grandchild Jae Brown in Bend, Oregon; special daughter, niece Karen McGrath in Tacoma; and many nieces and nephews. Her parents, brothers Bob and Bill Wilson and sister Alta May Wiltfong, all preceded her in death.

Services celebrating her life will be held 11:00 a.m., Saturday, September 20, at The Bridge, 5601 S. Puget Sound Ave, Tacoma, followed by burial at Tahoma National Cemetery alongside Joe.