Margaret H. Overton

Margaret Helen Winkler Overton was born on March 22, 1918 in Mansfield, OH and passed away in Englewood, CO on December 29, 2018. When she was 5 years old, her family moved to Colorado for the health of her beloved Auntie who made her home with the family. The family settled on a three-acre plot of land on West Colfax in Lakewood. The family grew produce and had some farm animals to sustain them. In the early 1930's her mother began selling her homemade ice cream and Winkler's Homemade Ice Cream was underway. Margaret was often seen at the stand selling ice cream.

She attended Lakewood School from 1st grade through 12th grade and graduated from Lakewood High School in 1936. She attended Barnes Business School and after completing her courses become a secretary at General Electric. While there one of her fellow workers asked her to join him and his wife at their home for dinner one weekend. Armed with a quart of homemade ice cream she appeared and to her surprise they had invited another guest, a fellow named Tom Overton. This developed into a love story that resulted in a marriage of just 3 months shy of 75 years.

Margaret and Tom were married November 24, 1939 in Denver and immediately moved to Salt Lake City, Utah where Tom had been transferred with the telephone company. They moved a total of 12 times in their marriage most of which were in the first 20 years; including Brush, Ft Morgan, Fairplay, Greely, and Denver CO and Albuquerque NM. In 1986 Margaret and Tom moved back to Denver to be near their children and grandchildren.

Margaret was a very social person who had a life of service to others. During her life she was a member of many organizations including Eastern Star, church groups – she taught Sunday school many times, garden clubs, she was a 50-year member of P.E.O., and volunteered at local hospitals and testing young children for eye problems.

Margaret was an expert seamstress. She made all her own clothes as well as those of her daughter and many dresses and prom dresses for her granddaughters. Never an idle person she always seemed to have a needlework project in progress.

When Tom retired in 1981, she said it was her turn to travel. They put many miles on their motorhome and took two or three major trips a year with Ports of Call. They enjoyed many years of travel seeing many countries, visiting all seven continents and learning about world cultures. Some of their favorite trips were "mystery trips" not knowing where they were going until they arrived at their destination.

Margaret is survived by her son Tom (Sheryl); daughter Helen Thompson (Jerry); grandchildren Tom (Stacy), Cari Follett (Dennis), Susan Jarrett (Justin), Kristin (Terri), Stacey Mitchell (Eric), and Scott Thompson (Maru); great grandchildren Shelby, Paige, Colton and Ashley Follett; Hailey and Maisey Jarrett; and Addison and Calen Mitchell; and great great granddaughter Hazel.

Hers was a life well lived and will be missed by family and friends for her caring and loving ways, her fun, funny and upbeat demeanor, her beautiful smile which she shared with everyone, and her love of life.

Memorial service will be held Saturday, March 2, 2019 at 1:00 pm at Wellshire Presbyterian Church, 2999 S. Colorado Blvd.

Memorial contributions may be made to JDRF (diabetes research), 2727 Bryant St, Suite 380 Denver CO 80211.