Margaret Baxter

Margaret Mary Baxter left this life on January 9, 2018 in Brainerd, MN. She was 92. Her memorial service will be Friday, February 23, at 1 PM, at Brenny Funeral Chapel in Baxter, with Pastor Justin Halbersma officiating. Friends are invited to visit during the hour before the service. Interment will be at Pinewood Cemetery in Crosslake.

Margaret was born October 6, 1925 in Shawano County, Wisconsin to Otto and Mary (Voelker) Rekitzke. She was the youngest child of Mary and Otto’s blended family. Her earliest years were spent on a farm in Wisconsin, but by the time she started school, the family was living in St. Paul, MN. She graduated from Central High School in 1943, and went to work for the Waldorf Paper Company. She attended the University of Minnesota’s School of Business Administration from 1945 to 1947.

She married John Baxter on August 22, 1947, in St. Paul. Margaret and John moved numerous times before settling in Brainerd, MN. There, she worked for the Brainerd Chamber of Commerce and then the new Brainerd High School. She was also a Girl Scout leader and very active in the First (now Park United) Methodist Church.

Margaret’s greatest love was her family; her husband John, her two children, and her two grandchildren. She was happiest when everyone was around her and enjoying activities at the year-round lake home they built on Lower Whitefish Lake. Traditions were important to her, and treasured memories include making Christmas cookies and peppernuts, family Canasta games whenever we were together, cross-country ski trips on the lake with bratwurst roasts in the snow, fishing, water-skiing and boat rides. She could be a good listener when someone needed an ear. She was thrilled to become a grandma.

Her family was not complete without her beloved golden retrievers. She did a wonderful job of working with them so they understood the family rules and what was expected of them. They returned her love unconditionally.

Margaret very much enjoyed music and had a lovely alto voice. Early in her marriage she sang with the University of Minnesota Chorus. She sang in her church choir for many years. From 1974 to 1979, Margaret performed in musicals with the Brainerd Community Theater.

Margaret and John enjoyed many great vacations. When the kids were young, there were camping vacations every summer to different parts of the country and Canada. Later came canoe trips to Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area and trips to Hawaii. There were also trips to Alaska, England, Paris, Vienna, Mexico, Penang and Australia.

Margaret loved to knit and sew and to garden. She invested many hours in making quilts for herself and her family members. She liked to do needlepoint and to read. Over the years, she and John together enjoyed golfing, bowling, square-dancing, duck and grouse hunting, fishing, and cross-country skiing.

Margaret was preceded in death by her husband, John, in 2012. She was also preceded by her parents; her brother, Howard; three half-brothers, Arthur, Kenneth and Roy; and two half-sisters, Viola and Mabel. She is survived by her daughter Diane (Jim) Sargent of Brookfield, WI; her son Mark (Laurel) Baxter of Motley, MN; two granddaughters, Elizabeth (Robert) Engle of St. Louis, MO, and Katherine (Zach) Sattler of Milwaukee, WI; and two great-grandsons, Marcus Engle and August Sattler. Arrangements have been entrusted to Brenny Funeral Chapel in Baxter, MN.