Margaret A. Ramsdale

January 4, 1925 - February 24, 2019

Margaret Ann Ramsdale, age 94, died Sunday, February 24, 2019, at Hutchinson Hospital, Hutchinson, KS. She was born January 4, 1925, at the family farm near Anness, KS, to Carrie Frances (Hedrick) and Walker Bryan Ramsdale. She was preceded in death by her parents; her brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Nadine Ramsdale of McPherson, KS; her brother-in-law, Van Withee of Manhattan, KS; and her nephew, Thomas Withee. Margaret is survived by her sister, Barbara Withee, Manhattan, KS, and eight nieces and nephews: Anne Withee Burton (Richard), Havre de Grace, MD; Susan Withee, Manhattan, KS; Jane Withee Hebert (Damien), White City, KS; Janelle Ramsdale Tauer (Loren), Ithaca, NY; Nancy Withee Knorp (Rick), Manhattan, KS; Marc Ramsdale (Jody), Knoxville, TN; Leigh Ramsdale (Rhonda), Milton, KS; and John Withee (Michelle), Santa Barbara, CA. She is also survived by 16 grandnieces and nephews, and by 5 great-grandnieces and nephews. Her funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 11, at the First United Methodist Church in Hutchinson; Reverend Jeff Slater will officiate. Margaret will be laid to rest by her family at a later time in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Kingman County, Kansas. Margaret grew up on the family farm near Norwich, KS, and attended the two-room Mt. Pleasant country school nearby. She graduated from Norwich High School in 1942 and attended her first year of college at Kansas State Teachers College in Emporia, KS. She transferred to Kansas State College of Agriculture and Applied Science (now Kansas State University) in Manhattan and earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics in 1946. After graduation, she taught at Pretty Prairie High School for two years and then returned to K-State to earn her master’s degree in home economics in 1949. Over the next five years she taught at Cherryvale, KS, and Silver City, NM; served as a county home agent in Medicine Lodge; and attended classes at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg, MO. In 1955, she began a 37-year career teaching home economics at Hutchinson High School. She instructed and inspired hundreds of students over the years; she loved teaching and she loved the home economics profession. Throughout her life, she was a tireless worker and support to her parents on the family farm. She was also a ready and willing help to the families of her sister and brother, and was a beloved aunt to her nieces and nephews. She was a talented seamstress and tailor, a wonderful cook and baker, and a creative crafter, and her extended family were the grateful beneficiaries of these efforts. She was also an intrepid traveler, at home and abroad, with many of these trips involving extensive research of her family’s genealogy. After retirement, she traveled extensively around the world, experiencing such adventures as sleeping in a Mongolian yurt, bringing aid to a remote refugee camp in the Sahara, traveling on the night train from Moscow to St. Petersburg, and trekking into the Australian outback. Margaret was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church and the Order of the Eastern Star, and an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Knife and Fork Club of Hutchinson. She was also a devoted and outspoken fan of Kansas State University and the Wildcats. A memorial for Margaret has been established at the Kansas State University Foundation in support of the Margaret Ramsdale Human Ecology Scholarship Fund. Contributions may be sent to: KSU Foundation, 1800 Kimball Avenue, Suite 200, Manhattan, KS 66502. Please indicate “Fund M47249.” To make a gift online, go to: www.ksufoundation.org/give/memorials