Margaret TESSIER EDINBURGH

''Margaret Mary Edinburgh, age 87, fondly known as Maggie, passed away at her home in Austin, Texas on Sunday, September 3, 2017 after a long illness. She was born on June 30, 1930, the third of the seven children of Raymond and Anna Tessier, who were raised on Bridge Street in Northampton, Massachusetts.

She graduated from Northampton High School at the age of 16 and in the fall of 1946 entered the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing at age 17 on academic probation. Determined to succeed, Maggie went to the top of her class in the book learning part of the Nursing School program. By age 20 she was a Nurse, waiting to be age 21 so she could enter the U.S. Air Force as a 1st Lieutenant. She was hand-picked to be part of a 12-member medical group to go to Europe. At Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, she was attached to the 20th Fighter Bomber Wing which was then stationed at Wethersfield Royal Air Force Station in Essex, England. Maggie met her future husband, Aubrey Charles "Ed" Edinburgh for the first time while hitchhiking across base. He was driving a convertible when he picked up and delivered several people to their destinations.

Married in 1955, Margaret was never one to sit at home. While raising three children, she proudly stood by her husband and supported his career as a fighter pilot commander which took him to multiple places in the United States as well as many places abroad including Korea, Formosa, and Vietnam. She led waiting wives' groups, supporting them when their fighter pilot husbands were away. At various times, she volunteered as a nurse helping at Air Force base hospitals. After the military years, she was on a board in Austin, Texas that prepared for disaster relief with the Red Cross. In addition, she still volunteered at Bergstrom AFB hospital caring for civilian family members. Several times she headed up shelters in Austin providing for families fleeing the Texas coast during hurricanes and floods.

Throughout her life she was a wonderful cook and baker, an avid reader and gardener, and she loved to do needlework.

She is preceded in death by her parents and brother in 2016, Raymond Leon Tessier. Maggie is survived by her husband of 62 years, Ed Edinburgh; their three children, Mary Beth, John, and David. She also leaves behind six grandchildren, Kimberley, Blake, Katherine, Christy, Bailey and Caelyn; 3 great-grandchildren, Ashlin, Kensley, and Blake Bryan; her five siblings, Frances LaMontagne of Kennebunkport, Maine, Julia Saner of Easthampton, Massachusetts, Dorothy Tessier of Amesbury, Massachusetts, Allan Tessier of Pensacola, Florida, and Cynthia Tessier of Florence, Massachusetts.

Inurnment with U.S. Air Force Military Honors will be at 1:30 P.M., Monday, September 18, 2017 at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery in San Antonio, Texas. A reception will follow at the Edinburgh residence in Austin, Texas''.

source http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/gazettenet/obituary.aspx?pid=186607036