| Honored by: | Eileen and Morris Mericle |
| Brick location: | B:13 map |
Our cute, comic, gabby daughter Margaret, named for Harry and Bess Truman's daughter, overcame a childhood illness that robbed her of half her hearing. By 4th grade, Margaret had taught herself to type and then sent many letters to her penpal, Megan Mooar, in New Zealand. She didn't bat an eye when at age 12 Megan invited Margaret to come and stay with her in Christchurch and attend a semester of school. (While there she became an expert knitter.)
We tried our best to discourage her when at age 15 Margaret expressed a desire to learn German, but we were still underestimating our high school cheerleader; she showed us what she was made of by earning the highest grade in a summer intensive German class at ISU. Then just to rub it in, she spent a year in Germany as an exchange student with the Educational Foundation. While she was in Mutterstadt, she helped coach the fledgling basketball team; and when she heard there was an opening in a jazz band she shut herself away for a long weekend and emerged a trombone player--playing well enough to pass the band's audition. (Margaret has also played piano, sax, guitar and clarinet.)
In December 1991, she earned a degree in German; that semester she got the highest gradepoint at the University of Iowa: 4.25; and in 1993 she got her B.S. in electrical engineering there also while living at her engineering fraternity house, Theta Tau. Six months after going to work for the U.S. Navy, Margaret was given a $6000 a year raise and was promoted to computer systems manager. Margaret Truman Daniel would be proud of her namesake, as are we!
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Margaret got a blood clot in her leg and passed away in 2006. She had worked in naval research for 18 years and was honored "for service to her country."
Submitted 7/24/94; updated 11/12/13