(above, Margaret on the Spring Street Steps, Boal Street, Over-the-Rhine)
WAITING
Waiting.
Being present.
Is it called "being present" if you're not in the same room?
Presenté! Our departed loved ones and heroines ~
Presenté!
To live in the now is to realize it's now.
My memories are now.
Fifty-six years compressed into now.
Roommates our Freshman Year
Maid of Honor
Stories from the Reservation
Godmother extraordinaire
Surviving the years of single motherhood because you visited after work.
Climbing Young Street stairs to watch Mr. Rogers & Sesame Street
With Daisy on the roof.
Trips in the Red Bug, three kids and a bloodhound in the back seat,
Old Man's Cave, Natural Bridge,
And the Saginaw Bookstore with a tomato on the shelf.
The Cottage, The Greenhouse, Ireland - now, now, now.
You told me once when I was grumpy,
"It doesn't matter if they delete you from history
Or mythologize you; I was there.
I remember." A simple echo of God's words,
"I know you. You are mine."
The IV pump is ticking
Voices down the hallway
Ashes on your forehead
Repositioning, med passes, a parade of medical teams
Now
Quiet Breathing
Now
Healing
Now
God in and around us
Now. Presenté!
[kp. for Margaret McDonough. 3/3/2022]
(above, Margaret in Ireland, circa 2000)
A Few Words on the Life of Margaret Mary McDonough
The poem above was written by my friend kp, who was one of Margaret McDonough's closest friends. There has been no official obituary for Margaret, but I'm going to try to piece together what I know about her life.
Margaret was from Bay City, Michigan, born around the time I was born, May 2nd, 1948. Margaret died in Cincinnati on March 21, 2022, a week ago. After a 6 week stay in the hospital, she was discharged to the skilled nursing unit at her retirement community. Four days later she died peacefully. Her brother Jack was with her when she died. During the 6 weeks of hospitalization she had a team of friends, Debbie Boerschig, Sue Brungs, Charlene Riva, Liv Henson, and kp, advocating and caring for her as much as was permitted. Margaret was deeply loved, which was made perfectly clear during her final illness.
For a while I lived near Margaret, maybe a quarter mile away (for a time I was on Orchard Street and then on Lang Street in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati). Margaret lived on Boal Street near the Young Street steps, just up the street from my friends Henry Scott and Dan Bromley (they were at 324 Boal). She had many friends on Orchard Street and knew the folks in the Mansfield House Commune. We had many friends in common. I'm sure we were in the same place at the same time, but I don't remember meeting her.
Margaret attended the College of Mount Saint Joseph, like kp and Mary Jane Atkinson. Her resumé is a little crazy, like so many of my friends. She started her teaching career on the Lakota Sioux Reservation in Saint Francis, South Dakota, and later returning to Cincinnati she taught 4th and 5th grade at St. Henry’s in Northern Kentucky. After several years of teaching, she decided to change her career path. She took classes in horticulture and worked for 17 years at Frank's Nurseries, becoming their first female store manager. In 1990, Margaret joined the UK Royal Horticulture Society and specialized in growing flowering sweetpeas, resurrecting a flower that had been popular in Cincinnati before World War II. From then until retirement, Margaret was a familiar face at Court St. and Findlay Markets, eventually selling rare plants and other flowers as well as her sweetpeas. For a decade or more Margaret volunteered as a reading instructor for adult learners.
For a while Margaret lived near the Fernald Nuclear Plant--a place with a disguised name (Fernald Feed Materials Production Center) and a secret source of vast and dangerous radioactive pollution (it released millions of pounds of radioactive uranium dust into the air). Could this have been a contributing factor in Margaret's death?
Toward the end of her life, Margaret moved to a cottage connected to Twin Towers Senior Living Community in Cincinnati. She was greatly loved by her neighbors in this community.
In a Facebook post, an old friend of Margaret mentioned some of the things she fought for throughout her life: Native Americans, Women in Business, Hispanic Immigrants, Children, and Community Gardens. And in the end, a heroic fight for her own life.
Margaret is being laid to rest at the same time as her 98-year-old mother, Lorraine McDonough, at the St. Patrick's Catholic Cemetery in Bay City, Michigan. Mrs. McDonough died a couple weeks before Margaret's passing.
The Irish would say: "Margaret's likes will not be seen again." And "Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis," May her sweet soul be at God's right hand.
Keep Margaret, Lord, like the apple of your eye. Shelter her under the shadow of your wings. Let Perpetual Light shine upon Margaret Mary McDonough.
Bob Coughlin
