Margaret Banks Huddleston

She was born an identical twin Dec. 21, 1925, in Dry Valley, Ala., (Chilton County). In 1940, her family moved to Arcadia, FL where she participated in basketball and cheerleading before graduating from DeSoto High School in 1944. Margaret and Frank Williams Huddleston Jr. (a “fella” she had barely known in high school but then became more acquainted with after she moved to San Francisco, CA in 1945, and accidentally ran into while he was stationed there in the Navy) were married there Oct. 25,1946. Margaret and Frank had five children, three boys and two girls. She worked at J.C. Penney & The Pottery Shack in Laguna Beach; Smith Printers in Tustin, and Hughes Aircraft in Los Angeles, CA as lead in the bindery-shipping department. She retired from there in 1992, and relocated to Arcadia, FL to be closer to her twin sister, Mary and brother-in-law, Murl Coker. While in Arcadia, Margaret volunteered for the Arcadia Center for the Needy & as head of the After School Child Care Program run by the First Baptist Church of Arcadia.

She returned to California in 2005, following the loss of her mobile home to Hurricane Charlie in 2004. She resided with her son, Richard for 4 years. In Sept, 2009, she went to live with her grandson, Gary and his family in Las Vegas, NV where she watched her three great-grandsons participate in a variety of sports. In May 2010, while still quite independent, she moved to San Diego, to be closer to her daughter, LuAnn. In Nov, 2010, a major decline in her cognitive abilities forced a move into an assisted living facility for those with dementia, St Paul’s Villa -- Memory Care Program in San Diego where she lived until her passing. Margaret and her family were greatly supported by Apreva Hospice of San Diego.

Survivors include her twin sister, Mary Banks Coker of Arcadia; sons, Richard of Santa Ana & Frank of Moreno Valley; daughters, LuAnn Benton of San Diego, and Paula Bassemier of Kingman, AZ; four grandchildren & three great-grandchildren. She was predeceased by her oldest son, Kevin in 1983.

Fifteen of Margaret’s family traveled from CA, AZ and Texas to attend A Celebration of Her Life in Arcadia, FL followed by her burial at Oak Hill Cemetery, Arcadia, FL Nov. 1, 2014. A Celebration of Her Life will be held in San Diego at St. Pauls Villa 2340 4th Avenue on Saturday November 15, 2014 1:30pm.

Online condolences may be made at www.merkleymitchell.com.