| OCTOBER 5, 2010 -- Margaret Warner narrowly cheated death on one very scary occasion.
“My mom and dad were at a picnic when all of a sudden everyone at their table got hit by lightning — she was pregnant with my brother Larry (Warner of Wallingford) at the time,” said Warner’s younger son, Mark Warner of Hamden. “Two people at the table died and my parents were knocked unconscious and had to be taken to the hospital. My father suffered minor burns and my mother turned out to be OK. My brother was born a short time later. She liked to say he was born with his hair standing straight up on end. And we have the pictures to prove it.”
Warner died Sept. 8 at age 88.
Born May 17, 1922, in Iowa, a daughter of Charles and Daisy Hendershot, she moved to Hamden as an adult and worked for A.C. Gilbert Co.
A parishioner of Hamden Plains United Methodist Church, she was a volunteer at church bake sales and other church activities. She also was a member of the Hamden-Cheshire Grange, New Haven County Pomona Grange, Connecticut State Grange and Mix District Volunteer Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary. She also was a blood donor, a den mother and member of her local PTA.
In her spare time, Warner liked to collect spoons, knit, garden, make Christmas ornaments, paint and draw, spend time at lakes, bake, play pinochle, read, do word search puzzles and assemble jigsaw puzzles.
Family vacations included trips to Pennsylvania, New York state, Arkansas, California, Arizona, Nevada and throughout New England. She and her husband, the late Frank Warner, also visited Illinois, Washington, D.C., and Virginia. She also visited New York City.
She liked to say, “Think positive.”
Warner’s oldest grandchild, Karen Annis of Wallingford, said her grandmother was good-natured and selfless. “She was probably about the most hardworking woman that I have ever known, and the first person to volunteer for anything,” she said. “She made you feel comfortable and welcome in her home, even if you stopped in without notice.”
Longtime friend Louise Wood of Hamden said Warner was a very giving and happy person. “On Sunday nights, we would play a board game called Qwerkle,” she reminisced. “Margaret would claim she didn’t know how to play it — and then go on to win half the pot every time.”
“She was very sweet, kind and gentle,” said Mark Warner. “She was a good listener and outgoing, and had a lot of friends. She always maintained a positive outlook on life, and made the best of everything.”
Warner also leaves a sister; four grandchildren; and a great-grandson. |
