Margaret
Margaret L. Becker
d. July 28, 2009
Margaret L. Becker, 70
Struthers-Margaret L. Becker, 70, of 120 Overlook Blvd., died Tuesday afternoon at her residence from complications of Alzheimer's disease.
Margaret, known as Margy, was born September 27, 1938 in Youngstown, a daughter of Frederick and Margaret Hynes Trucksis.
She attended St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Elementary School, Ursuline and Struthers High Schools. In 1967, she satisfied a long-standing concern and enrolled in the former Youngstown South High Night School where she became the honor graduate and was selected to speak for the class at the commencement program.
Margy was married to Daniel H. Becker August 5, 1955 in Angola, Indiana where they eloped when they left Struthers High School. From 1956 through 1961, she served as a devoted army wife and homemaker, giving birth to her first daughter, Kim Rachel in the army hospital at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and Kandace Ann and Kelly Louise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Upon return to civilian life in 1961, she began working with Dan, his father, Hazen and his aunt, Rachel at the former D.A. Davidson Funeral Home, which became Davidson-Becker. She began working with Rachel providing cosmetic and hair styling for deceased ladies. She later also worked in an administrative capacity.
In 1963, she gave birth to Kate Maria and in 1966 to Daniel Hazen Davidson. She became active in the PTA, the Struthers Junior Reading Circle, the Struthers Rotary wives and St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church. In 1966, she became a partner with her husband in the founding and operation of Becker Ambulance Service, which became Gold Cross Ambulance and Medical Service until they sold the company to the Rural Metro Corporation in 1995.
In 1973, Margy, with her best friend, Margaret "Peggy" Gough Jacubec Pavlov, purchased Mitchell's Paint Store in Struthers. They renamed it Phelan's Paint and Paper and spent fourteen happy years assisting hundreds of customers with their paint, wallpaper and decorating products and advice. After the sale of Phelan's, Margy continued to provide all decorating services for the Becker Funeral Homes.
Margy enjoyed traveling, first with Dan and the children in their motor homes to all the contiguous United States, Canada and Mexico and later the two of them to Alaska and elsewhere. They also traveled throughout the world on cruises and through Europe, renting automobiles as opposed to organized tours. She loved her homes and gardens on Overlook and on Summerland Key in the Florida Keys.
Margy was known for her uplifting spirit, ever present smile, quick wit and contagious laughter.
In 1998, she became a breast cancer survivor. Also, that year, Margy began having memory problems and was, ultimately, diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Always a fighter, she became a patient at University Hospitals Memory and Aging Center in Cleveland. For years, she volunteered for every clinical study or experiment that she was eligible for. For their 50th wedding anniversary in 2005 the Margy and Dan Becker Memorial Research Fund was established at the Center. Due to the interest and success of that effort, in 2006, she was the subject of an Associated Press newspaper article where her story and photo were published nationwide to tell the story of Alzheimer's and the University Hospital/Case Western Reserve School of Medicine Alzheimer's research programs.
She leaves her husband of nearly 54 years, Dan; daughters, Kim Rachel and her husband, Rob Horyn of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Kandace Ann and her husband, David Hagendorn and Kelly Louise Becker, all of Poland, Kate Marie Becker and her husband, Darell Hammond of Washington, DC; son, Daniel Hazen Davidson and his wife, Lisa of Struthers; sisters, Mary Ann Enders of Mars, Pennsylvania and Caroline Williams of Medina, Ohio; brothers, Rev. Fred Trucksis of Warren and John Trucksis and his wife, Darlene of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina; grandchildren, Rachel, Katherine and William Horyn, David and Anna Hagendorn, Robert and Frederick Rumberg and Ellen and Hazen Becker; her closest friend, Peg Jacubec Pavlov; and Margy's wonderful caregivers that served over the years, Judy Denmeade, Geri Page, Maggie Rosen, Norma Smith and Regina Yurick.
Funeral services will be Saturday at 10:15 a.m. at the Cunningham-Becker Funeral Home, 270 North Main Street, Poland and at 11:00 a.m. at St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church, 764 Fifth Street, Struthers, where the mass will be celebrated by Rev. Fred Trucksis and Rev. Bernard Bonnot. Interment will follow at the Poland Riverside Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday at the funeral home.
The family asks that material tributes be made in the form of contributions to the Margy and Dan Becker Research Memorial Fund at University Hospital Memory and Aging Center, 3619 Park East Drive, Beachwood, OH 44122.
Struthers-Margaret L. Becker, 70, of 120 Overlook Blvd., died Tuesday afternoon at her residence from complications of Alzheimer's disease.
Margaret, known as Margy, was born September 27, 1938 in Youngstown, a daughter of Frederick and Margaret Hynes Trucksis.
She attended St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Elementary School, Ursuline and Struthers High Schools. In 1967, she satisfied a long-standing concern and enrolled in the former Youngstown South High Night School where she became the honor graduate and was selected to speak for the class at the commencement program.
Margy was married to Daniel H. Becker August 5, 1955 in Angola, Indiana where they eloped when they left Struthers High School. From 1956 through 1961, she served as a devoted army wife and homemaker, giving birth to her first daughter, Kim Rachel in the army hospital at Fort Chaffee, Arkansas and Kandace Ann and Kelly Louise at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
Upon return to civilian life in 1961, she began working with Dan, his father, Hazen and his aunt, Rachel at the former D.A. Davidson Funeral Home, which became Davidson-Becker. She began working with Rachel providing cosmetic and hair styling for deceased ladies. She later also worked in an administrative capacity.
In 1963, she gave birth to Kate Maria and in 1966 to Daniel Hazen Davidson. She became active in the PTA, the Struthers Junior Reading Circle, the Struthers Rotary wives and St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church. In 1966, she became a partner with her husband in the founding and operation of Becker Ambulance Service, which became Gold Cross Ambulance and Medical Service until they sold the company to the Rural Metro Corporation in 1995.
In 1973, Margy, with her best friend, Margaret "Peggy" Gough Jacubec Pavlov, purchased Mitchell's Paint Store in Struthers. They renamed it Phelan's Paint and Paper and spent fourteen happy years assisting hundreds of customers with their paint, wallpaper and decorating products and advice. After the sale of Phelan's, Margy continued to provide all decorating services for the Becker Funeral Homes.
Margy enjoyed traveling, first with Dan and the children in their motor homes to all the contiguous United States, Canada and Mexico and later the two of them to Alaska and elsewhere. They also traveled throughout the world on cruises and through Europe, renting automobiles as opposed to organized tours. She loved her homes and gardens on Overlook and on Summerland Key in the Florida Keys.
Margy was known for her uplifting spirit, ever present smile, quick wit and contagious laughter.
In 1998, she became a breast cancer survivor. Also, that year, Margy began having memory problems and was, ultimately, diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Always a fighter, she became a patient at University Hospitals Memory and Aging Center in Cleveland. For years, she volunteered for every clinical study or experiment that she was eligible for. For their 50th wedding anniversary in 2005 the Margy and Dan Becker Memorial Research Fund was established at the Center. Due to the interest and success of that effort, in 2006, she was the subject of an Associated Press newspaper article where her story and photo were published nationwide to tell the story of Alzheimer's and the University Hospital/Case Western Reserve School of Medicine Alzheimer's research programs.
She leaves her husband of nearly 54 years, Dan; daughters, Kim Rachel and her husband, Rob Horyn of Nantucket, Massachusetts, Kandace Ann and her husband, David Hagendorn and Kelly Louise Becker, all of Poland, Kate Marie Becker and her husband, Darell Hammond of Washington, DC; son, Daniel Hazen Davidson and his wife, Lisa of Struthers; sisters, Mary Ann Enders of Mars, Pennsylvania and Caroline Williams of Medina, Ohio; brothers, Rev. Fred Trucksis of Warren and John Trucksis and his wife, Darlene of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina; grandchildren, Rachel, Katherine and William Horyn, David and Anna Hagendorn, Robert and Frederick Rumberg and Ellen and Hazen Becker; her closest friend, Peg Jacubec Pavlov; and Margy's wonderful caregivers that served over the years, Judy Denmeade, Geri Page, Maggie Rosen, Norma Smith and Regina Yurick.
Funeral services will be Saturday at 10:15 a.m. at the Cunningham-Becker Funeral Home, 270 North Main Street, Poland and at 11:00 a.m. at St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church, 764 Fifth Street, Struthers, where the mass will be celebrated by Rev. Fred Trucksis and Rev. Bernard Bonnot. Interment will follow at the Poland Riverside Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Friday at the funeral home.
The family asks that material tributes be made in the form of contributions to the Margy and Dan Becker Research Memorial Fund at University Hospital Memory and Aging Center, 3619 Park East Drive, Beachwood, OH 44122.
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