The Celebration of Margaret Elizabeth Kings 100th Birthday

The year was 1909, the place Varnamo, Sweden, and Ruth Anna (Karlson) and Thure Josephson welcomed their first child, Margaret, into the world that cold March seventh, 100 years ago.

Two years later on May 8th, 1911, the family boarded the Drodnindholm with two-year old Margaret, and headed for a new life in the land of opportunity. After a trying time at sea for Ruth, expecting their second child, they sailed into Boston Harbor. The family was warmly welcomed by Ruth's aunt, married to the Rev. Fredfelt, pastor of the Swedish Mission Church in Orange, Massachusetts. The Josephsons first lived with this family, where Paul was born in September of 1911.

Soon the newly landed emigrants were able to rent an apartment in Orange, and Margaret's father found employment as a machinist with Adell Mfg. Co., a manufacturer of small medical implements such as tweezers. A sister, Helen, was added to the family in 1914, and life was good in the new land.

Swedish was still spoken in the home, but when the children started school they quickly learned English.

Margaret's dad bought a Swedish/English dictionary, purchased the newspaper daily, and quickly taught himself the language. Evenings were spent with Margaret's dad teaching her what he had learned, and she in turn helped her brother, sister and mother with their English. They were becoming Americanized!

Margaret has many fond memories of her growing up years in Massachusetts. She recalls living without electricity, but the family did have running water and a nice indoor bathroom. She did her homework by the light of kerosene lamps, and fondly recalls the family's pot-belly stove fueled by coal. There was always a pot of coffee on the stove, as well as a kettle with a mixture of molasses and onion, a cure-all for many maladies. Margaret's mother baked bread and rolls every day, and she recalls friends and merchants alike stopping by for coffee and rolls, true to the family's Swedish tradition of warm hospitality.

Margaret's Mother sewed all of her clothes on a treadle sewing machine, and she recalls shopping for bolts of fabric and spools of thread. Before the family bought their own home Margaret and her brother and sister loved to go to an upstairs apartment and visit the lady living there, who let the children listen to records on her Victrola, and eat hard rock candy. Weekends were spent outdoors, skating, skiing and playing games with the neighborhood children.

Grocery shopping was quite different from today. Margaret's family did not go to the market, but the grocer boy came daily, took their order, and then delivered the groceries to the home later in the afternoon. The bakery man, the ice man, the milk lady, the rag man and many other merchants made daily or weekly visits throughout the town, selling their wares and services. In the cellar they stored barrels of apples, potatoes, sugar and flour.

Margaret remembers a very strict father. She loved to play basketball, but he wouldn't allow her to play in the out-of-town games. Many of her pleasant childhood memories revolve around church activities, and a favorite memory is of their annual Sunday School picnic. Margaret's family would join with friends and together they would walk over two miles down to Miller's River. Here they would board a steamboat the church hired to take them down the river to a large park. The small steamboat had to make several trips as the entire church went, numbering almost two hundred. The day was spent playing games, eating, swimming, and ended with singing and devotions.

At Christmas time Margaret's Mother would save the silver from yeast cakes and wrap it around acorns to decorate their Christmas tree, which they chopped down themselves. Margaret walked to school and came home for lunch every day. She graduated from Orange High School at the age of 18 in a class of 65, and remembers the school as a brand new brick building. She was a good student, and loved arithmetic the best.

Upon graduation Margaret found employment as a bookkeeper in a big shoe factory five miles from her home. She thought nothing of walking a long distance each morning, and then taking the trolley or the Boston and Main train to Athol, MA to work, repeating this trip back home every afternoon.

Margaret has also seen sorrow, with the passing of her dear Mother at the age of forty-two. Margaret's sister, Helen, died at the age of eighteen from pneumonia, and when her brother Paul married, Margaret continued to keep house for her Dad and still kept working in the shoe factory in Athol.

Happily, Margaret caught the eye of a handsome shoe cutter, Joseph Romeo King, who was of French and Irish descent and went by the name "Jim". They courted for four years, and Margaret was married in 1939, at the age of thirty. The happy couple honeymooned at the 25th World's Fair in New York, and Jim's brother and his wife went along on the road trip.

Margaret says her happiest day was the day her son, James, was born. She had waited a long time to become a mother, and in 1944 her dream came true. She loved every minute watching little Jimmy grow and tending to his needs.

After an especially stormy Massachusetts winter the little family decided to move west, and in 1946 they packed up and drove their car across country to California. It took two weeks to cross the country, and they settled in Glendora where they bought a home. Husband Jim found employment with the Scebeco Shoe Company in Pasadena, where he was in charge of the shoe-cutting department. Margaret and little Jim loved watching the Rose Bowl parades each New Year's Day, and she has many wonderful California memories. Margaret never did learn to drive a car. In 1964 her husband bought a brand new Pontiac GTO with a promise to teach Margaret to drive, but she related they were always too busy for lessons, and she never did get her license.

Within a few weeks of their arrival in Glendora, Margaret's father joined them and lived with them until he passed away at the age of 82 in 1979.

Margaret's son Jim married, and his three children are James Christian, Jeanette Marie and Ryan Joseph. Margaret also has two great-grandchildren, Alexis, 13, who is James's child, and Ruth Alessandra, who will be two years old this March, and is Ryan and Lanie's child.

After Margaret's husband passed away she moved to Monrovia, CA and lived there until at the age of ninety she gave up her apartment and moved to Houston, Texas to live with her son James and daughter-in-law Ellie. When they built a new home in Sun City Grand in late 2004 Margaret moved with them. She lived with them on Sojourner Drive until this past October, when she moved to Vista de la Montana, an independent living community not far from them, in Surprise.

When asked for her recipe for reaching the century mark Margaret says it's working hard, lots of walking, eating the right foods, and having faith in God. Her favorite president was FDR, as she felt he was for the people.

When asked what invention made the biggest impact on her, she said it was the airplane, and noted how it has changed how we live and travel.

When asked what "nuggets of truth" she had learned through life that she would like to pass on to children today, her answer was simply, "Don't lie" and "Mind your parents."

Margaret is amazing! She is always mistaken for being many years younger, and we often hear people say, "She can't be almost one hundred!" Margaret always has a ready smile, has a wonderful sense of humor, a strong faith, and is an inspiration to all who meet here.

We celebrate you, Margaret!! Happy Birthday!!