Margaret Humphrey

Margaret K. (Dougherty) Humphrey

Margaret Kathryn Humphrey, 88, of Pleasant Hill, Missouri, departed this life on Tuesday, October 26, 2021, at Saint Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, surrounded with love and family.

Margaret and her twin brother, Mark, were born on April 28, 1933, to Giles and Catherine (Piller) Dougherty on their rural family farm home at Newcastle, Dixon County, Nebraska.

Margaret was one of 7 children and spent her first 18 years on their rural Nebraska farm.  She attended the Lone Tree, District #50, Dixon County, rural one-room school through 8 ^th grade.

It was the end of World War II.  She and twin brother, Mark, would spend their freshman year of high school at the convent school, St. Francis, Randolph, Nebraska.  They transferred to Dixon High School the last three years and graduated in 1951.

After graduation, Margaret spent the next 2 years living with her sister, Maxine, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  She worked for Hardware Mutual Insurance Co.  She returned to Nebraska and started working for Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Sioux City, Iowa, from 1953 to 1955.

She started her college education in the fall of 1955.  She taught in rural Dixon County, in one-room schools and 5 ^th grade at Bloomfield, Nebraska.

She married Harold Humphrey at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, Wayne, Nebraska on August 20, 1960.  They both graduated from Nebraska State College, Wayne, Nebraska, in May 1961.  They moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Harold had a job with the Civil Service Commission.  Margaret taught 3 ^rd grade in the Ritenour School District, St. Louis County, Missouri.  They moved to Kansas City, Missouri in June 1962.  Her husband worked for the US Department of Agriculture until he retired in November 1989.

During the years, Margaret was involved with raising 3 children and doing volunteer work with church, 4-H, and substitute teaching.

She was a member of the Coronation of Our Lady Catholic Church, Grandview, Missouri, and the Altar and Rosary Society.  She served as Education Chairman on the Parish Council.

She was a 4-H project and club leader for 20 years with the Cloverleaf 4-H Club, Grandview.  She attended the Missouri State 4-H Leader Forum in Columbia, Missouri.  She went with a delegation from Missouri to the National 4-H Conference in Chevy Chase, Maryland.  She was chosen as one of five volunteer delegates from the US to visit agricultural colleges and volunteer programs in England and Scotland.  She served 2 terms on the University of Missouri Extension Council for Jackson County, Missouri.

Margaret did some substitute teaching in the Grandview Public Schools until 1989, when she and Harold moved to Adrian, Missouri, after Harold’s retirement.  She and her husband moved to a small acreage farm near Adrian where they raised cattle and hay crops.

Margaret enjoyed her rural neighbors, gardening, canning, traveling, and spoiling her grandchildren.

In 2011, Margaret moved to Pleasant Hill, Missouri.  She enjoyed playing cards every week at the Harrisonville Senior Center and attending local events and performances by her grandchildren.  She was a parishioner of St. Bridget’s Catholic Church in Pleasant Hill.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents Giles and Catherine, her husband, Harold Humphrey, brothers Richard, Robert, Jerry, and Mark Dougherty, and her sister, Maxine Drozdziewicz.

She is survived by her children, Patricia Humphrey and partner Alan Feuerborn of Kansas City, Missouri, Catherine and husband John Marchesi of Walled Lake, Michigan, and Stephen Humphrey and wife Michelle Humphrey of Pleasant Hill, Missouri; her grandchildren, Melanie, Mallory and husband Ryan Phillips, and Eric; one sister, Marcella Wisnewski of Ketchikan, Alaska; other relatives and friends.

Recitation of the Rosary was held Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at St. Bridget Catholic Church, Pleasant Hill, where visitation followed.

Catholic Mass was held Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at the St. Bridget Catholic Church.  Father Curt Vogel officiated.

Graveside services were held Tuesday, November 9, 2021, at Oak Hill Cemetery in Butler.

Memorial contributions are suggested to Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, or Catholic Relief Services, and may be sent in care of the funeral home.

Arrangements: Stanley-Edenburn Funeral Home, 203 N. Armstrong Street, Pleasant Hill, Missouri 64080 (816) 540-5550.