Mom - Margaret Douglas Walls

Margaret (Mom) holding LeRoy Walls. 

Photo courtesy of

  
Margaret Walls  

Written by 
LeRoy Walls 
CEO 

Mom - Margaret Douglas Walls, was the oldest of seven children born to Oscar and Lottie Douglas. She was born and raised on a farm outside of Houston Missouri. She grew up in a caring Christian family learning from parents, grandparents, teachers and church leaders. She learned from the farm and learned from both the hard times and good times which prepared her for handling the Great Depression, World War II and droughts on the farm.

She taught school for five years but she taught Sunday School for most of her life and she continues to teach her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Our garden spot was just east of the house. I can remember many long hours of planting, weeding and hoeing in our garden. The garden spot was about one acre in size but on many hot summers it seemed more like ten acres to me. The amount of work I did in the garden would honestly seem small in proportion to all the planting, hoeing, picking, cleaning and canning that Mom did. When the work was done and I pulled my chair up to one of Mom’s great suppers or Sunday dinners, her special beet pickles, buttery mashed potatoes and oh-so-sweet corn made the garden look a whole bunch better.

Mom always added a touch of color to our garden and yard with a wide assortment of flowers and blooming bushes. At times when I was sent for a switch from one of these bushes I would have a few choice words for those "blooming" bushes. Did I mention being bushwhacked as a child?

Mother is many things to our family. In the earlier years, a helpmate to Dad working on the farm plus caring for the chickens, and harvesting fruit and garden produce. She’s always been a terrific cook, whether for Walls or Douglas family gatherings, church gatherings, hay crews or just our bunch. She is also a great example of sharing with needy neighbors even during times when we had little to share. She certainly demanded that things be done right but was always looking for the best in situations and in people.

12/31/1999