Margaret Irene Houpt

Margaret Irene Houpt

1915 – 2016

Margaret Houpt , passed away on Monday, February 29, 2016, in her 101st year, from post-operative complications following a hip fracture. Both of her daughters were able to be by her side non-stop for two weeks straight, and all of her grandchildren had a chance to spend some quality time with her in person or on the phone over her last days.

Margaret was the fourth and youngest child of Florence B. and Richard P. Jenkins; she was born in DeWitt, Arkansas, in 1915, but moved to Whittier, California, with her family in 1918. She lived in Los Angeles County for her remaining 98 years, in Whittier until her marriage, briefly in Santa Monica, and the remaining 70 years in Long Beach. Margaret attended Whittier High School, a local community college, and earned a B.A. degree from Whittier College in 1937. She attended Whittier College at the same time as a more famous alumnus, the future United States President, Richard M. Nixon. After her college graduation, she obtained a clerical position at the Gas Company. Outside of being wife, mother, and homemaker for her family, it was her favorite job. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Margaret often worked as a substitute teacher, mostly at Domingquez Elementary School. Neighborhood children would occasionally recognize her in the grocery store or while she was tending her beautiful rose garden and recall that she had filled-in for their regular teacher.

Prior to the U.S. involvement in WWII, Margaret met a handsome Texan while she was vacationing in Big Bear.  One would hardly call it a whirlwind romance, as it took Glen nearly a year to reconnect with Margaret following their meeting in Big Bear. However, they married in 1941, began their family with the birth of their first daughter, Becky, in 1942, and their second daughter, Shirley, in 1948. They enjoyed 69 wonderful years together before Glen’s death in 2010.

In addition to creating and tending to her lovely garden at her home in Long Beach, for many years Margaret enjoyed rock polishing and ceramics. She painted many beautiful, cherished pieces. She was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes about 1950. An inspiration to us all in caring for and coping with our own health issues, she managed her diabetes solely with diet and exercise for nearly 65 years.   Even at age 98, Margaret was still engaged in an aquatic exercise program . She significantly impacted many lives by her intense involvement in multiple Masonic organizations, Eastern Star, Job’s Daughters, and Beauceant, serving as president of her Beauceant Assembly in 1999 and as treasurer through 2014.

Margaret and Glen always made vacations a high priority for their family; they vacationed at Lake Shasta most summers throughout the 1950s and 60s. After Glen’s retirement from McDonnell Douglas Corporation (now Boeing Corp.) in 1983, Margaret and Glen became globe trotters, enjoying such diverse places as Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, China, Japan, Fiji, Hawaii, Canada, Washington D.C., New York, and Europe. On a trip to the Grand Canyon in 1970, Glen convinced Margaret to take the round-trip mule ride to the bottom of the canyon, and they spent the night at Phantom Ranch at the base of the canyon, earning them the dubious designation of “mule skinners.” Another very unique trip they took was to Finland in mid-winter, and they enjoyed nearly perfect, though very cold, weather.

Margaret is most remembered by her friends for her sweetness, kindness, patience, and graciousness; by her family for her tenacity, perseverance, fighting spirit, thoughtfulness, and her love and loyalty to her family. She was preceded in death by her parents, her beloved husband, and all of her siblings, John P. Jenkins, Mary Ellen Jenkins Smith, and Elizabeth Jenkins Barmore.   She is survived by her two daughters, Becky (Lance) Larsen and Shirley (Gregory) Liebu, six grandchildren, Jennifer (Michael) Ramirez, Trevor (Natalie) Larsen, Heidi Smith, Tricia (Michael) Delapaz, Michelle (Ante) Libeu-Babich, and Robert Libeu, 11 great grandchildren, and 15 nieces and nephews. One of the latest joys in Margaret’s life was meeting, at her 100th birthday celebration, her great grandson, Ivo Jai Libeu-Babich, born three weeks earlier.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held on Sunday, March 13, at 3 p.m. at Luyben Dilday Mortuary, 5161 Arbor Rd., Long Beach, CA.