Obituary of Margaret Edith Richards

A funeral service for Margaret Edith Richards, age 103, of Dickinson, NY will be held on Friday, December 31, 2021, at 11 am at the Anderson Funeral Home in St. Regis Falls, NY. Immediately following the funeral service will be a procession to the Sand Hill Cemetery for the burial. As the 2nd of 16 children and the first daughter of the family, Margaret was born on June 13, 1918, in Moira, NY, to the late Alvin and Edith (Arquette) Richards Sr. Throughout her youth she worked on the family’s dairy farm and attended Country Schools. The earliest years of her childhood were during a period that pre-dated modern-day niceties such as in-home plumbing & electricity and was at a time when the predecessor of today’s smartphones, a rotary dial telephone, hung on the wall. Margaret deeply enjoyed, and passionately loved her family. As no stranger to hard work, she spent numerous hours preparing meals, cleaning the farmhouse, building fires in the downstairs wood furnace, and caring for the numerous family members and guests visiting the farm throughout the years. Upon her father’s death in 1976, Margaret would continue overseeing her mother’s care for the next 26 years, until her mother’s passing, at the age of 102, on 11 December 2002. Although from a large family, Margaret never married nor had any children of her own. She was known to be very loving, dependable, kindhearted and yet stern. While the later years of her life were in assisted living and nursing home care, most of her life was spent on the family farm. Throughout the years, she did take some short trips to stay with her immediate family, but even that was to help with the care of her many nieces and nephews, and great nieces and great nephews. She was very passionate in her faith, enjoyed cooking, reading books, listening to music, taking in the morning rays of sunshine on the family’s glassed-in porch, and sitting out in the family orchard during an afternoon breeze. Margaret is survived by her youngest sister Elaine Stacey of Dickinson, NY, and by numerous non-immediate family members. She will be greatly missed and forever cherished. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.brusofuneralservice.com. Arrangements are under the care of the Anderson Funeral Home in St. Regis Falls, N.Y.