Margaret Shilling

Margaret Riddle Shilling will be remembered by family and friends as a person who lived a joyous and happy life of meaning and fulfillment. She was the daughter of H. L. and Bessie Burford Riddle and was born in the west Texas community of Ovalo, near Abilene. She attended South Taylor High School (Jim Ned High School) in Tuscola.

Upon completion of high school, Margaret attended McMurry University in Abilene. She was elected one of the freshman class officers and subsequently invited to become a member of several campus organizations. Margaret met Roy Shilling at McMurry, and it was the beginning of a life-long love affair. They were married during the fall semester in which they met.

It was a period in which the country was involved in the Korean conflict, and Roy was called into military service in the U.S. Army. While Roy was in the 101st Airborne at Camp Breckenridge (KY), she found a position there, and when he was transferred to Fort McNair in Washington, DC, she worked nearby in a U. S. Army CIC Group. When they later lived in Dallas, she was a staff member of the Dallas Council on World Affairs.

Margaret and Roy’s son, Roy III, was born during their time in Washington DC, and three years later, Margaret and Roy welcomed their daughter, Nancy, who was born in San Angelo (TX).

During the time Roy was working toward his Ph.D. at Indiana, Margaret served in the Fiscal Affairs office at Ball State University, and later in the Office of Student Affairs at Indiana University. She was the first person to have the responsibility to publish the daily campus calendar for Indiana University, and Roy soon began calling her his “calendar girl.” When Roy completed his degree at Indiana University, they spent a year in Cleveland (OH), where Margaret was on the staff of The Conservatory at Baldwin-Wallace College.

During their 12 years in the President’s home at Hendrix College in Conway AR, she was very active and engaged in college programs and activities, hosting students and their parents, faculty and staff, and friends of the College, including Governors and Arkansas state officials, as well as congressional members and officials from Washington.

In Conway, Margaret served as a trustee and member of the Administrative Board of the First United Methodist Church; and in the state, she was the first woman elected to serve on the Board of Directors of Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Arkansas.

When Roy was elected President of Southwestern University in Georgetown, she continued her active hosting role in the President’s Home, all on a pro bono basis, at her insistence. She was a member of the United Way Board, and she was a part of the group which established a new PEO Chapter in Georgetown. She later served as President of the PEO for two terms.

When Roy retired after 19 years as President at Southwestern, Margaret and Roy built a home in Barton Creek in Austin. Margaret became an active member of the Barton Creek Country Club, as well as the downtown Austin Bridge Center. She and Roy were members of the Tarrytown United Methodist Church in Austin.

Margaret was a devoted wife, loving mother, and caring and thoughtful friend to all. Also she became known and remembered by many generations of college students and staff as “First Lady” in the President’s home of two colleges during the 31 years of their service and leadership - 12 years at Hendrix College and 19 years at Southwestern.

No one represented or expressed more fully than Margaret a deep love and respect for her fellow human beings. Over the years those close to her observed her fierce respect for her many friends and her support of them through difficult and challenging times.

Margaret and Roy celebrated a very happy 70th wedding anniversary with Nancy on October 16, 2022 in Austin, and Roy told Margaret she had never looked more beautiful than she did that day.

Daughter Nancy resides in Austin where she retired as the Senior Retail Manager at the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Son Roy III and his wife, Laura, have resided in Las Vegas since Roy III’s retirement as an Ocean Engineer with British Petroleum (BP) in Houston.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents H. L. and Bessie Burford Riddle; husband Roy Bryant Shilling, Jr.; sister-in-law Beth Van Cleave and husband, Horace “Buddy”; brother Herschel Riddle and wife, Ann; sister Kathryn Riddle Beard and husband, James; and nephews Jerry and Terry Riddle. She is survived by her daughter Nancy Shilling; son Roy B. Shilling III and wife, Laurie; sister Sue Gibbs and husband, John Gibbs; nieces Diana Van Cleave Buroughs, Jan Beard Evans, Judy Beard Foreman; and nephews John David Gibbs, Jimmy Gibbs, Scott Van Cleave, and James Beard Jr.

A service will be held at Hendrix College on October 12, 2024 at 2 p.m. in Greene Chapel. Margaret will be interred there next to her beloved husband Roy Jr. in the Shilling Memorial Garden.

In lieu of flowers, the family invites you to make a gift to Southwestern University in memory of Margaret Riddle Shilling at southwestern.edu/makeagift.