February 20, 1926 – July 15, 2022
Marguerite “Margie” Alma (Hamblin) Hash, age 96, passed from this life peacefully at Green Tree Assisted Living & Memory Care in Sand Springs, Oklahoma on July 15, 2022. Margie was a kind, loyal, loving wife, mother, and grandmother and was loved by many. She was married to Elmer for 72 years before his passing in 2018.
Born on February 20, 1926, in Roanoke County, Virginia, Margie was the youngest of eight children born to Floyd Newton and Maggie May (Allen) Hamblin. She attended grades 1-12 there with interests including art, drama, and dance before graduating from William Fleming High School in 1944.
Margie met the love of her life, Elmer, while in high school in about 1941, through mutual friends at the Lee movie theater in Roanoke. Their entire courtship was surrounded by wartime events of that day including the Japanese surprise bombing of the U.S Naval Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on Dec 7, 1941, after which the U.S entered WW II on both the Pacific and European fronts. Margie and Elmer dated until Elmer was inducted into the U.S. Army in November 1942, corresponding regularly by handwritten letters, reuniting when Elmer had leave from his eighteen-month stateside Army training.
Elmer, with the 79th Infantry, departed by transport ship to England in April 1944 in preparation for the historic U.S. “D-Day” invasion of France at Normandy on June 6, 1944, to fight the German army. Margie completed high school and graduated with honors during this time. She lived at home with her parents, working in the radiology department at Roanoke Memorial Hospital, unsure if she and Elmer would ever again reunite, or if she would have to bear the harsh tragedies of war.
Elmer went ashore at Utah Beach about June 12 and spent 13 months in combat throughout France and Germany until the Allied Forces defeated the Germans in May 1945. While overseas, he and Margie maintained faithful and constant contact with one another through many letters. Elmer fortunately returned home and was honorably discharged in November 1945. He and Margie married in Roanoke, Virginia on June 1, 1946, in a home wedding. Margie was twenty and Elmer was twenty-four years of age.
They embarked on their life together not knowing they were part of what is now referred to as “The Greatest Generation.” In October 1946, Margie and Elmer made their post-World War II home on a small land tract consisting of four building lots on Martin’s Lane on the outskirts of neighboring Salem, Virginia.
During this post-war era, with family assistance, they built a small “shotgun” single bedroom home (i.e., all rooms in a single line arrangement…kitchen, living, bath, one bedroom), adding a second bedroom later to accommodate their growing family. They reserved one adjacent lot for a future building site, eventually selling the remaining two lots. They settled into this first home and had two sons, Steven (1952) and Mark (1956). They eventually built a new, modest, three-bedroom brick home on the adjacent lot in 1965, fulfilling their dream, just as planned.
Once her boys reached school age, Margie went to work at various secretarial positions for the local schools, advancing to administrative assistant to the superintendent of the county school system. She was loved dearly by all of those with whom she worked as well as by many students. She was a devout Christian and active in her church in the early years serving as both teacher and chair of numerous committees.
Margie retired from the Virginia School System in 1979 and eventually she and Elmer moved to the Tulsa, OK area to be closer to family. After retirement Margie and Elmer enjoyed several years of golfing and travel. Margie loved her family, preparing their favorite recipes, visiting her grandchildren, and sewing special projects for them. She enjoyed her yard and caring for her flowers… pansies were always her favorites because she “loved their little faces.”
In the 1990’s Margie enthusiastically took on the challenge of the personal computer and email and learned to correspond with family, play games, and read the news. Sewing was her primary lifelong hobby. In the early years she sewed for others for supplemental income, designing and creating career clothing for other women as well as for herself, and becoming highly skilled in design, alterations, and tailoring. She sewed for her family, tailoring complicated pieces perfectly for her husband, children and grandchildren, guys and gals alike. In recent years, for fun, she did alterations for other residents in her care facility and for many of the staff as well. She produced many beautiful garments and performed countless repairs and alterations through the years.
Margie also enjoyed her quilting group at her church, making quilts for the less fortunate. It was one of her ways of giving to and loving others. Margie will be missed by those who knew her, and we are comforted by the firm understanding that she now rests comfortably with our Lord after serving those around her for so many wonderful years. Thank you, Mom, for the wonderful, caring years and for your shining example. We love you! “Job well done thy good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:21)
Margie is survived by her two sons, Steven (Connie) Hash, Sand Springs, OK; Mark (Janet) Hash, Dublin, OH; grandchildren Stefanie (Hash) Miles, Dallas, TX; Stuart Hash, Sand Springs, OK; Caitlin Hash, Columbus, OH; and Alex Hash, Dublin, OH.
Margie was preceded in death by her husband Elmer Stanley Hash, her parents, her brothers Hubert, Thurman, Curtis and James Hamblin and her sisters Evelyn Carter, Mary Bridgemen & Lois Burnette.
A private service for the immediate family will be conducted prior to her cremains being returned to Virginia to rest with her beloved Elmer at Sherwood Memorial Park in Salem.
We express our heartfelt gratitude for the kind and loving care professionals at Green Tree Assisted Living and Memory Care and to those from Seasons Hospice. The family requests no flowers please; however, the Hospice Foundation of America, 800-854-3402 and Emergency Infant Services, Tulsa, Oklahoma 918-582-2469 are worthy organizations should you wish to honor Margie’s life with a donation.
