Margaret Louise Harlan passed away peacefully on November 3, 2023, at her daughter’s home near Salem, Missouri. She was 92.
She was a lifelong learner, curious to the very end. She immersed herself in international news and politics, devouring library books on subjects as diverse as the Civil War and Israeli Palestinian history.
Born March 6, 1931, to Walter Lee and Maisie Elizabeth Hampson in Wichita, Kansas, she and her older brother, Walt, lived with their parents in Topeka before moving to Sedalia, Missouri, where their father operated a limestone quarry. Margaret often rode her horse, Dick, to the one room schoolhouse located across the pasture from their home. She excelled in school and graduated valedictorian of Smith-Cotton High School in 1949. She received a one-semester scholarship to the University of Missouri, qualifying her to teach at a one-room school near Smithton, Missouri.
She married Jerry Harlan, of Sedalia, in 1950. Margaret worked as a secretary and ran a boarding house in Columbia to help put Jerry through graduate school while having their first two children. Two more children followed as they moved to Indiana and later to Lockport, Illinois for Jerry’s career in chemical engineering. Margaret continued her education with a series of correspondence and night classes. In the early 1960s, Margaret taught first grade in Romeoville, Illinois, and was dismayed at the number of children unprepared to learn. She received permission to form a class of at-risk first graders and for years taught disadvantaged children before special education had a name. Margaret always fought for the downtrodden, often acting as an advocate for the families of the children she taught. Margaret finished her education, receiving her master’s and doctoral degree at the age of 42 – about the time her children were themselves graduating from college. She taught and supervised student teachers at Lewis University in Lockport, Illinois, before moving to Pennsylvania, where Jerry was Assistant Director at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Eastern Regional Research Center. There, Margaret continued working in special education. She and Jerry enjoyed their early “empty nester” years sailing on the Chesapeake Bay and attending the many equestrian events popular in the area.
In the early 1980s Margaret and Jerry moved back to Sedalia to be closer to Jerry’s parents. They built their beloved log home near Clifton City on Harlan farm ground. She was well known for her beautiful perennial flower gardens featuring native Missouri plants. A lifelong animal lover, she and Jerry raised and showed Himalayan cats and bred and raised hunter-jumper horses. “The Farm,” as the family called it, became the gathering place for their children, grandchildren, and extended family for holidays and the Missouri State Fair. Building a large home later in life helped their grandchildren form a bond enjoyed today.
Margaret became a clinical psychologist, founding Harlan and Associates in Sedalia. Margaret and Jerry became active in the Sedalia community and were among the founding members of Citizens Against Spousal Abuse and the Restorative Justice Program. In later years, concerned about racial tension in Sedalia, she and Jerry founded, along with local author and journalist, Rose Nolen, the Rose M. Nolen Black History Library. The mission of the library was to gather and preserve the history of African American life specifically in Sedalia/Pettis County and all of Central Missouri.
Margaret was always a champion of the underdog, working tirelessly as a voice for the voiceless. She and Jerry were active members of the Democratic Party and Wesley United Methodist Church in Sedalia.
Margaret is survived by her son, Jerry Harlan, Jr., and wife, Glenda, of Prosser, Washington; daughters, Brooke Tibbetts and husband, Walter, of Salem; Hetty Harlan and husband, Bruce Buchowicz, of Columbia; and Bonnie Kania and husband, Tom, of Mount Holly, North Carolina; grandchildren Nate Carlisle and wife, Brook; Ty Carlisle; Colter Carlisle; Grant Buchowicz; Bryce Buchowicz and her wife, Lauren; John Zepecki, Lauren Fiori and husband, Jacopo. She was preceded in death by Jerry and her brothers, Walter Lee Hampson, Jr. and Douglas Dwight Hampson.
Funeral services will be 2:00 P.M. Friday, November 24, 2023 at McLaughlin Funeral Chapel in Sedalia, with Rev. Dennis Harper officiating.
Burial will follow in Crown Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be from 1:00 until 2:00 Friday at the funeral home. Memorials are suggested to Sedalia Community of Helping Hands in care of the funeral home.