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In Memoriam: Margaret Anne Shetler    (March 18, 1922 – June 13, 2022)

Margaret Anne (Pursley) Shetler, 100, of Silverton, Oregon, died June 13, 2022. 

She was born March 18, 1922 in Oroville, Washington, to Courtney and Thelma Rae (Taylor) Pursley. She was the oldest of four: Myron, John, and Dorothy – all deceased. Her family migrated to where there was work, eventually settling in Salem, and then moving to the Aurora area. She graduated from Canby High School in 1940.

She was not raised in a Christian home, but attended Sunday school on her own and joined Hopewell Mennonite Church. She became a member of Zion Mennonite Church, in Hubbard, Oregon, in 1967, and remained so the rest of her life.

She attended Hesston College, in Hesston, Kansas, graduating in the class of 1943. There she met Ralph Shetler, and they were married on May 30, 1943. They lived most of their married life in Oregon, near Hubbard, and then in the Scotts Mills area.

Margaret worked for several years as a medical secretary for Dr. Pickering at the medical school in Portland, Oregon and then later at the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center, in Beaverton.

She was a member of the Oregon Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society. She authored and co-authored several books and she finished writing her own life story at the age of 90. She also made many delicious meals and loved making quilts.

She is survived by her six children, Marvin, David, Howard, Jerold, Ruby and Lawrence; 29 grandchildren, 86 great-grandchildren, and seven great-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by a stillborn son, Daniel, in 1956 and her husband Ralph, in 2004.

Memorial services were held at the Zion Mennonite Church near Hubbard. Burial was in Zion Mennonite Church Cemetery.