Margaret Ann (Kurtz) Tansey
September 8, 1919 – March 28, 2016
A special woman has slipped from this earthly world into the loving arms of those awaiting her in Heaven.
She quietly enjoyed her life, loving and supporting her family, and became an inspiration to those who knew her when Alzheimer’s and failing health took over her last years. Her memory failed her but her
personality shone through.
She called Sherwood Assisted Living her home, happily
greeting everyone she saw and joining enthusiastically in all activities. She especially enjoyed the musical events and could be heard singing as she walked through the hallways.
She often surprised those around her with her sense of humor and wit. She tended the garden box in the courtyard outside her room and enjoyed sharing her flower bouquets with the staff.
Margaret was born in Flint, Michigan to Raymond and Sarah Viola Kurtz, the fourth of five children, and spent most of her younger years in southern Michigan and northern Indiana. She was loved and known as Auntie Mar to a number of nieces and nephews.
Margaret graduated from Hurley Medical Center in Flint as a Registered Nurse; however, her career ended after she met her future husband (Warren Tansey) on a Valentine’s Day blind date in 1942.
They married on the first of June and their first daughter was born 10 months later, followed by a set of identical twin girls 18 months after. That’s when life really got busy!
Ten years later they decided they wanted a child that they had time to enjoy and gave birth to a son.
Her life was filled with raising the children; which meant being a Girl Scout leader, den mother, making costumes for dance recitals, gowns for the girls who were in Rainbow Girls, and encouraging her son in his sports.
She loved gardening, canning, and needlework. Her hands were never still.
After retiring to Florida and finding it “too hot and filled with old people”, they moved in 1985 to the Port Angeles/ Sequim area where their oldest daughter’s family lived.
They loved watching their granddaughters swim and were known as “Grandma and Grandpa” by the swim team members.
Sixty-eight years of marriage flew by until Warren passed away in 2010, leaving a huge void in Margaret’s life. Shortly after, she moved into Sherwood.
Margaret is survived by daughters, Sandy (Jim) Reed of Sequim; Carolyn Vallieres of Phoenix and Dianne (Stu) Knodel of Dallas; son Scott (Cindy) Tansey of Niceville, Florida; 8 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
