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- [S84] E-Mail, Jacie Thomsen [jacie.thomsen@gmail.com], 27 Dec 2007.
- [S142] Newspaper Article, The Des Moines Register (IA), 18 Sep 2004.
Maude R. McGee died on Thursday, September 16, 2004 at Heartwood House, Northcrest Community in Ames, Iowa, at the age of 102.
Maude Sophia Ridenour McGee was born November 19, 1901 on a farm near Mallard, Palo Alto County, IA to Julia Ellen (Peden) and Ernest Grant Ridenour. She graduated from Mallard High School and enrolled in Iowa State Teachers College in 1919. She taught two years in rural schools, attending ISTC in the summer. On November 18, 1922 she married Nacy W. McGee in Cherokee, IA and taught the first year of their marriage in Western Iowa where her husband was superintendent of schools.
The next 14 years she was a homemaker during which their four sons were born, the third son, James Gerald, dying in infancy. She returned to teaching in 1938 and taught three years in Greenville, IL followed by five years in Fayette and Pella, IA and 17-1/2 years in Naperville, IL where her husband taught political science at North Central College.
After Professor McGee retired he taught at Upland College, Upland, CA and she taught elementary school in Cucamonga. After teaching at Williamsburg, KY and Fresno, CA she and her husband returned to Naperville where she lived until 1995, when she moved to an apartment at Northcrest Community in Ames, Iowa.
Maude served as secretary or co-chairperson of various church, school and social organizations. She was active in the Dupage County (IL) Retired Teachers Association and was a member of the Naperville Community United Methodist Church for 49 years. She and her husband traveled extensively including all 50 states, the Canadian provinces, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe and the British Isles. She and her husband were devoted to public service. After his death in 1983 she committed herself to helping senior citizens, driving others to senior centers, quilting, traveling, writing short stories and poems, gardening and organizing groups for card games, exercise classes and board games.
Maude was preceded in death by her husband, Nacy Waters McGee; her infant son, James Gerald; her sisters, Edith Ridenour Grove Hanna and Hazel Ridenour Miller; and her brother, Harold Clarence Ridenour. She is survived by three sons, Nacy Waters McGee, Jr. of Duncanville, TX, Thomas Donald McGee of Ames and Paul Richard McGee of Duncanville, TX; ten grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; one great-great-grandchild; and nieces and nephews that she loved.
Visitation is from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Adams Funeral Home in Ames. Funeral services will be 10 a.m. Monday, September 20 at First United Methodist Church. Interment will be at McGee Bethel Cemetery, north of Farley, Iowa, a pioneer cemetery. Memorials may be given to Heartwood House or McGee Bethel Cemetery.
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