Margaret Burris

SERVICE:

2 p.m., Saturday, June 15 at Pederson-Volker Funeral Chapel.

Margaret Jones Burris of Boise, Idaho passed away on October 9, 2012, less than three weeks before her 92nd birthday.

She was born October 28, 1920, the oldest child of Ora (Clark) and Leonard E. Jones of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. She was a member of the Greatest Generation, an adolescent during the Great Depression and young adult during World War II. She graduated from Chippewa High School and the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where she met her future husband, James D. Burris of Elroy, Wisconsin. James served in the US Army in the China/Burma/India and South Pacific theatres during World War II and Margaret worked as a pharmacy technician in Ohio. They were married in 1946 and had the first of their three children in 1947.

The young family lived in Mauston and Green Bay, Wisconsin before moving to the Washington, DC area in 1950. Their second son and a daughter were born there. While her husband worked as a budget analyst for several federal agencies, Margaret was active in the community. She served as a Cub Scout and Blue Birds leader and taught Sunday School at Woodside Methodist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Margaret moved to Boise in 1971 when her husband took a position with the Governors office and legislature to establish a non-partisan budget office for the State of Idaho. In addition to being the mom of two teens, Margaret helped to establish and operate a family floral business that included a greenhouse and three florist shops. After her husband fell ill of a Parkinsons Disease-like condition, Margaret sold the family business and devoted herself to caring for him through several years of declining health prior to his death in 1983.

Margaret then became active in elder-care programs, including the Boise Senior Center and the statewide Growing Wiser program. She also traveled widely: to Australia and New Zealand (a trip she had hoped to take with her husband after retirement), to her ancestors homeland in Scotland, and to England, Mexico, Italy, Switzerland and most of the US states. She was interested in many subjects and loved reading, gardening, and arts and crafts. She was a member of Hillview United Methodist Church in Boise and the Order of the Eastern Star in Washington, DC.

She is survived by her children, James F. Burris, MD of Washington, DC and his wife Christine, Harry Leonard Burris of Boise and his wife Deborah and the Reverend Meigan Cameron of Chicago and her husband Jeremy Smerage. She is also survived by her three grandchildren, Cameron Burris of Washington, DC and Traia and Serena Thiel of Chicago, by her sister-in-law Orlene Jones of Holmen, Wisconsin, by many nieces, nephews and cousins in Wisconsin and Minnesota and by friends in Wisconsin, Washington, DC and Boise.

Margaret was predeceased by her parents; her younger sister, Lois Stallman of Elk Mound, Wisconsin and her younger brother, Leonard E. Jones, Jr. of LaCrosse/Holmen, Wisconsin.

A memorial service will be held for Margaret commencing at 2 pm on Saturday, June 15 at the Pederson-Volker Funeral Chapel in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, followed by interment at Forest Hill Cemetery in Chippewa.