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Margaret Le Duc

| October 4, 2007 11:00 PM

Margaret Le Duc, 97, died peacefully Sept. 13, 2007, at her home in Bigfork.

She was born on Jan. 8, 1910, to Edward J. and Madeline Murphy at the family homestead in South Minnewaukan Township, Devils Lake, N.D. Margaret attended the rural school for her elementary education, Crary High School and St. Mary's Academy for her high school, and Valley City Teachers' College, where she received her teaching certificate.

After teaching in rural schools in North Dakota, Margaret and her sister Genevieve were both selected for the teacher training program at the renowned Lexington School for the Deaf in New York City, where they received degrees in education of the deaf. Margaret eventually became a highly-esteemed member of the faculty at the Lexington School.

She married Don Wood in the 1940s. They made their home in a lovely vineyard in St. Helena, Napa Valley, Calif. When Don died unexpectedly seven years later, Margaret returned to New York and resumed her teaching career.

On April 15, 1963, she married Greg Le Duc of Bigfork. He passed away in 1970 and Marg continued living in her beautiful home on Flathead Lake. Marg enjoyed gardening and had a truly spectacular yard.

She was preceded in death by her parents; sisters Mary Byerly and Genevieve Rutten; husbands Don Wood and Greg Le Duc; stepson Grant Le Duc; nephews Richard and Kenneth Le Duc, and grand-niece Kelly Rutten.

She is survived by nephews John Rutten and wife Mary, of Devils Lake, N.D., Tom Rutten and wife Char, of Myrtle Creek, Ore., Dick Rutten and wife Jacque, of Minot, N.D., Don Rutten and wife Deb, of Woodbury, Minn., Robert Rutten and wife Caryl, of Bismarck, N.D., Keir Francisco Byerly, of Guadalajara, Mexico, Patricio Byerly, of Navajoa, Mexico, and Robert Le Duc and wife Betty, of Kalispell; nieces Susan Anderson and husband Terry, of Roseburg, Ore., Patricia Helfenstein and husband Gary, of Shillington, Pa., Donna Jones and husband Richard, of Portland, and Patricia Weed and husband Kenneth, of Whitefish; daughter-in-law Sue Le Duc and husband Grant, of Phoenix; and numerous grand- and great grandnieces and -nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial for Margaret was held Sept. 20, 2007, at Pope John Paul II Catholic Church in Bigfork. Cremation followed and urn burial will take place at a later date in California.