Margaret Ricks Weeks Howard, 96, transcended this life on Friday, May 30, 2003, at the Good Samaritan Center in Idaho Falls. She was born June 8, 1906 in Clawson, Teton County, Idaho, the third daughter and fourth of eight children born to Wallace Ricks and Helen Irene Crandall. The family resided in Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming, but she lived most of her life in Swan Valley, Idaho. She met Thomas Milburn Weeks, and they were married on May 19, 1927. They were later blessed to receive their four children and spent most of their lives in Swan Valley in the ranch house that they built for their family. Thomas passed in 1985, and, several years later, she married Jack Howard. Margaret's life spanned a great many years and was characterized by her love of children, family, teaching, gardening, writing and an abundance of other endeavors, but it was also one of hard work, raising food, cooking for hired workers and caring for her home. She was a beloved schoolteacher, and many of her students still remind her family members just how much of an effect she had on their lives. Additionally, this love of teaching extended into her religion as she taught many Sunday School classes faithfully and effectively. She was a faithful member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and served a mission in Alabama. She was a published and accomplished poet and an active member of the Idaho Writers League. She wrote with wit, humor, compassion, command of the language, and an understanding of human emotion that pervaded her works. She was also a proficient gardener, but, even in the garden, her love of poetry and teaching was apparent as she taught her daughter, Barbara, to memorize whole poems while they picked berries together. Margaret will be remembered always, by family and friends alike, as kind, hospitable, loving, hardworking, and persistent. She will truly be missed but perhaps some comfort may be found in the words of her poem entitled,

"The Empty House:" "I am not dead," she said, "I have gone home, And we are separated just for now."

She was preceded by her parents, first husband Thomas Milburn Weeks, siblings Wayne Ricks, Merle Tolk, Inez Curtis, Reed Ricks, Glen Ricks, Keith Ricks and Ross Ricks, and second husband Jack Howard.

Surviving
Son: Dr. Byron T. Weeks, Idaho Falls
Daughter: Janis Thornburg, Red Oak, IA
Daughter: Barbara Beckman, Idaho Falls
Son: Winston Weeks, Salt Lake City
15 Grandchildren and 29 Great Grandchildren

Funeral Services held June 4, 2003, at Palisades Ward in Swan Valley, Blain Jacobson officiating. Burial was in Fielding Memorial Park