Margene leaves behind her three children: Katie, Gus and Scott; two grandchildren: Christopher and Faith; and a remarkably rambunctious Treeing Tennessee Brindle dog named Cocoa.
Margene was born October 2, 1942 in Rock Island, Illinois. She was a proud member of the Rock Island High School class of 1960. After high school, she attended Augustana College and graduated in 1964 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. While at Augustana, Margene was part of a rebellious (self reported!) Kappa pledge class, enjoyed participating in the college’s rich tradition of “phrigs” (epic pranks to poke fun at the school’s decorum), and was a member of the writing and dance clubs and the orchestra and the school's choir… all while managing to graduate at the top of her class!
After college, Margene had a wide-ranging number of jobs that leveraged her creativity, hard work, and mastery of the written word. Her first job was at Deere and Company before moving on to writing radio and TV for WHBF Rock Island Broadcasting. Next, she worked as a district director for Camp Fire Girls before moving on to being a managing editor and writer for Helene Curtis where she met her late husband Bill. After Helene Curtis, Margene joined the Playskool Advertising department as a copywriter. During this time, she became a published poet and was taking advanced courses in English and journalism from Northwestern.
Margene was a generous foster mom and upon adopting three children, she formed her own company, Lehman Communications, to continue to contribute across a range of public relations and communication topics. As the kids entered grade school, Margene began work as an administrator for Garrett-Evangelical Seminary, and after a number of years moved to administrator of the Economics Department at Northwestern University where she worked until retirement.
Margene was an incredibly dedicated and compassionate mother — she was the daily after-school teacher, the weekend “Hockey Mom” and chauffeur, and the biggest overall ambassador for all of her three children’s wide-ranging interests.
She loved walking her dog, reading, knitting, drinking black coffee while completing crossword puzzles in record time, binge watching British dramas, attending music concerts, plays and book clubs, and never missing an opportunity to catch up with her neighbors and friends.
While we mourn Margene’s death, we also give thanks for being blessed to know such a wonderful woman, friend, and mother. She will be dearly missed.
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