Margaret Ward Pollard, 87, long time resident of North Danville,
Vt., died peacefully Oct. 29, 2007, at St. Johnsbury Health and
Rehabilitation surrounded by sons. Margaret was the twin sister
of Marian Ward. Her mother was a retired teacher and her
father a farm worker on locations around the northern rural
area of North Danville, later employed at the local sawmill and
then on the town road crew. As the girls approached school
age, the family purchased a home in the village of North
Danville and this was the family home until 1996. Their brother
was born to the family in 1926 and followed the customary
schooling through St. Johnsbury Trade School. After a brief
period of employment in the machine tool field in Springfield,
Vt., he enlisted in the U.S. Army at the time of World War II
and was later killed in action in Germany in 1945. The girls
completed school at St. Johnsbury Academy. Marian trained as
an office and sales clerk, working at FW Woolworth, The
Caledonian-Record newspaper and the local telephone
switchboard. Margaret received post-secondary training at UVM
and became a teacher and stenographer. Eight years of high
school teaching in North Troy and Springfield, Vt., and Madison,
Conn., followed. She changed from teaching to doing office
work at Fairbanks Morse and Company in 1950 and married an
executive of the company, George Pollard on Oct. 11, 1952. A
1
2-year career as parents with four sons went on and Margaret
returned to her teaching career for 17 years at Concord High
School in 1965. She retired in 1982 to a life of selected
activities until becoming impaired in health. She balanced her
family and work interests with passions for reading, gardening,
animals, and the outdoors. Her love of reading provided her the
opportunity to volunteer countless hours at the North Danville
Community Library. Although retired, she was never very far
away from teaching and volunteered at the Northeast Regional
Correctional Facility, teaching basic educational skills to
inmates. She enjoyed attending the local retired teachers'
luncheons with friends. Margaret was predeceased by her
brother Horace in World War II; her father, Benjamin in 1972;
and her mother, Helen in 1974; her oldest son, Roger in 1973;
her husband, George in 1975; and most recently, her twin
sister, Marian in 2006. She survived by her three sons, Thomas
of St. Johnsbury, Martin and his wife Laurie, and their children
Benjamin, Christine, Jennifer, and Amanda of Danville, Curtis
and his wife Mary and their daughter Meghan Pollard of
Chicago, Ill. Family and friends are welcome to attend a
graveside service on Saturday, Nov. 3 at noon at Danville
Green Cemetery, located on Brainerd Street in Danville, Vt. In
lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Vermont Association
for the Blind and Visually Impaired, 37 Elmwood Ave.,
Burlington, VT 05401-4390 or Danville Rescue, Brainerd Street,
Danville, VT 05828. The family wishes to express their sincere gratitude to the
nurses and staff at Canterbury Inn and St. Johnsbury Health
and Rehabilitation for their care and kindness.
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