Margaret Alberta Jaeger

Margaret Alberta Jaeger

1930 – 2025

Margaret Alberta George Jaeger, daughter of the Kansas prairie, devoted wife, loving mother and life-long follower of Jesus, died peacefully on January 29, 2025, surrounded by her husband and children.  Throughout her life, she graced those around her with her kindness, intelligence, strength and humor.

Margaret was born in Wamego, Kansas on December 19 1930, the daughter of Samuel and Elon George.  She was raised on a farm and then in Junction City, together with her seven sisters and brother.  She graduated from Junction City High School in 1948 and was the first in her family to attend college, earning her degree in medical technology from Kansas State in 1952.

Margaret then launched into a career at a time when few women did so, working as a medical technician in Minneapolis and then Sacramento, where several of her sisters had relocated.  It was there in 1956 that she met and married Ralph Jaeger.  For the next 21 years she prospered in the demanding life of a mother to four children and military spouse, moving frequently from Oklahoma, Texas, California, Wyoming, Ohio and North Dakota.

Margaret was very independent and always stayed busy.  While Ralph was overseas, she completed a second bachelor’s degree in education at the University of Wyoming.  As her children grew older, she enjoyed working as a substitute secondary school teacher, medical office administrator and life insurance salesperson.  Upon Ralph’s retirement from the military in 1977, they returned to Laramie but in 1988 were on the move again when Ralph attended seminary in Indiana and served as a Lutheran pastor in Western Nebraska.

Retiring for good back to Laramie in 1998, Margaret enjoyed more than 25 full and active years living near the mountains, serving with her church community and friends at Zion Lutheran, and hosting countless visits from family.  She happily put each of her nine grandchildren through Margaret’s School of Manners where they learned, for example, not to pull one’s cell phone out at the table.

At every stop in her journey, Margaret enjoyed meeting new neighbors and serving in the community.  She had a great curiosity to learn about the people, places and events about her.  Her thirst for knowledge only grew with modern technology, as she always peppered family conversations with the cry of “let’s Google it!”  She would then proceed to violate her own cell phone rule, as her grandchildren loved to point out

Margaret was a strong advocate for all her children and actively supported their educational pursuits and any interest they chose to pursue, whether in music, dance, theater or sports.  She was a Girl Scout den mother and swim team volunteer and ferried her children (and their friends) to endless practices and lessons and loved having a car or house full of teenagers.

Margaret dearly loved her sisters and brother and their large extended families.  She and her siblings remained close and celebrated with gusto at large, biennial George Family reunions set in camping locations all over the West.  She was the last surviving member of her generation of the George family.

Margaret loved English tea, mystery novels and television series, an occasional glass of wine or Moscow Mule and playing word and card games with family and friends.  She also became a devoted fan of all Wyoming Cowboys sports teams and passionately followed professional golf.

Margaret loved to laugh and hers was a genuine one that could fill a room with joy.  She developed her sense of humor early.  As young girls, Margaret and nearest-in-age sister Irma Jean watched from the home window on a frigid morning as their father walked out to meet the butcher making a delivery.  When father’s greeting to the butcher of “pretty cold outside” was met with the non sequitur “here’s some liver,” the two girls fell over in laughter and repeated the exchange over and over with glee.

Margaret faithfully trusted God.  Her faith was challenged early when Irma Jean died tragically at age eight.  Margaret took it upon herself as a young girl to find a church and attend Sunday School.  She was baptized at age 11 and became a leader of her Methodist youth group.  She was confirmed into the Lutheran faith the day her first daughter Nancy was baptized.  She continued to live out her faith over the many years to follow and leaned heavily into her relationship with her Savior Jesus Christ as she became ill with cancer this past year.

Margaret is survived by her husband of 68 years, Ralph; daughters, Nancy Alford and Peggy (John) Grunow; sons Chuck (Locke) Jaeger and Tom (Sally Ann) Jaeger; grandchildren Colin, Heather, Beth, Carl, Andrew, Evan, Jackson, Lee and Eva; and numerous great-grandchildren

Public visitation will be held Sunday, February 2, 2025, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Matthews Funeral Home in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Funeral Services will be held Monday, February 3, 2025, beginning at 11:00 a.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Edmond, Oklahoma. Interment will be held at a later date at Greenhill Cemetery in Laramie, Wyoming.

2 thoughts on “Margaret Alberta Jaeger”

    1. I am so sorry to hear this. So many wonderful memories over the years from Zion. My thoughts and prayers for the family.
      Nancy Brosz Stanze

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