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MARGARET FRANKLIN OBITUARY
Margaret E. Franklin
December 24, 1921 - January 27, 2023
Meridian, Idaho - Margaret Franklin was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on 24th December 1921. After graduating from Kingsmead High School in Johannesburg in 1938, she attended Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa, where she obtained a B.A (Law) degree in 1942.
In 1939 she had gone on a three-month holiday with her parents to the British Isles and Europe. It was a memorable trip, during which they visited almost all the places that were worth seeing in England and Scotland. If family members subsequently traveled to those countries, they could reliably predict that she had been there in 1939. She returned to South Africa on one of the last ships to sail before the declaration of war against Germany. They were under blackout conditions and the ship made submarine avoidance maneuvers between Madeira and Cape Town.
During World War II Margaret joined the South African W.A.A.F. (Women's Auxiliary Air Force) as an officer. She became a Technical Librarian and was posted to the No. 22 Air School in Vereeniging. In 1945 she was transferred to the headquarters of the Technical Librarian Service in Voortrekkerhoogte, Pretoria, and stayed there until she was demobilized.
Desirous of completing a Law degree in the United Kingdom, Margaret applied and was accepted as a graduate student by Newnham College at Cambridge University. One of the highlights of her life was her journey to England in 1946 via Rhodesia, the Congo, Sudan, and Egypt in a war surplus eight-seater Anson aircraft, accompanied by her mother. She loved recounting the adventures they experienced on that memorable journey.
In her first year at Cambridge, there were only six women in the Law faculty, and she had a wonderful time, with no shortage of eligible escorts. She spent two years, 1946 - 1948, at Cambridge, graduating with a B.A. LL.B. degree, which was later converted to an M.A. LL.B. on payment of a fee of five pounds.
On her return to South Africa, Margaret married William (Bill) Franklin Jr. and settled in Great Brak River in the Southern Cape. She wrote "The Story of Great Brak River", a history of the town and of her husband's family, which was published in 1975. The adjustment to life in a small village was not easy, but she made her mark as the wife of the CEO of Searles Holdings. She was the doyenne of the village and the consummate hostess.
After Bill's retirement, they moved to Cape Town, where they began a new life. Margaret devoted a great deal of energy to being active socially in addition to playing tennis regularly. They lived in Rondebosch for more than ten years and enjoyed entertaining friends in their penthouse apartment.
Bill and Margaret had two children, David and Elizabeth, who both subsequently emigrated to the USA. Bill and Margaret emigrated to Eagle, Idaho in 1994 to be nearer to their children and grandchildren. Sadly, Bill died of cancer later that year. Margaret lived for 28 years as a widow in Idaho, where she made many new friends, most of them closer to her children's ages than to her own. She attended many of the important events in the lives of her grandchildren. While she was still able to travel, she enjoyed many trips overseas and stayed in touch with old friends. She had kept a diary all her life and was able to provide accurate information on her more than 50 overseas trips. Scotland was an important part of Margaret's life from the first time she went there with her mother at the age of 5. She loved being among her Scottish relatives and often stayed in the family home in Kingston, the small village in the highlands where her mother had been born.
In 2004 Margaret moved to Meadow Lake Village, a retirement community in Meridian, Idaho, where she was a prominent early resident. She enjoyed playing golf on the short executive course, where she recorded two holes in one. When she became less physically active in her nineties, she continued to maintain a large correspondence by email and text with a wide variety of people. She believed that human relationships are the most important thing in life. All who knew her loved her positive attitude, ladylike demeanor, and easy laughter. She died peacefully in her home on January 27, 2023, at the age of 101. She is survived by two children, six grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.
Published by Idaho Statesman on Feb. 5, 2023.
