Margaret Prince, died peacefully, at age 94 of late-stage heart failure on February 9, 2023 in Cincinnati, OH, where she was on a long-term visit with her daughter after living most of her years in Delaware. Margaret Williams Hukill was born on July 22, 1928, in East Orange, New Jersey, the first child of Charlotte Peverley Hukill and Francis Williams Hukill. A year into her life, the family moved back to their hometown of Middletown, DE, where Margaret grew up with her brothers Robert and John on a small family farm, in a house built by her maternal grandfather. Before World War II, the children enjoyed activities such as riding to school in the winters in a horse-drawn sleigh. Only the boys had to get up early to milk the cows. Margaret graduated in 1945 from Middletown High School, where she was the valedictorian in a nearly all-female class, most of the males being away in military service.
Margaret graduated from Hood College in 1949 with a major in mathematics. She went to work in the 1950s in Wilmington for Blue Cross and Blue Shield and then the DuPont Company, in the early days of the mainframe computer, on which she worked. At DuPont she met her future husband, David Dickson Prince. Dave was deployed on a DuPont project to Geneva, Switzerland, from November 1962 to November 1963. On home leave at Christmas 1962, he proposed to Margaret, who married him on January 5 and returned with him to Geneva for the rest of his year. Margaret made life-long friends in Geneva and sailed home on the Queen Mary just enough pregnant with their first child, Susan, to remember the journey well, but not for feeling well. Son James was born two years later.
Life changed abruptly in 1970 and 1972, when Dave experienced a psychotic break and then took his own life. With a lot of help from her brothers Bob and John and their families, from her parents-in-law Mildred and James Prince, and from a wonderful group of neighbors who became dear friends in Hollingsworth Tract, Centerville, Margaret raised her children faithfully, managed a beautiful home, and created a yard and garden full of flowering plants for every season, as had her mother in Middletown. Some of us remember badminton and tetherball games in the back yard. She maintained a circle of friends through a bridge club of DuPont-Company women and wives. From the late 1970s and into the 80s, she worked in the library at Wilmington Friends School, where her children attended. Once Jamie departed for college, she took a one-year job in the Registrar’s office at Winterthur Museum, which turned into a weekly volunteer position that she held for more than twenty-five years, until she broke her femur in 2015 at age 87. With her Winterthur friends she enjoyed many lunches and conversations, and from them she continued to receive many birthday cards.
With her characteristic and remarkable grit, Margaret recovered from the death of her son Jamie in 2013, as well as the broken femur two years later. The rehabilitation team at Wilmington Hospital cheered her on to a splendid recovery, even the resumption of her many daily trips up and down the fourteen stairs of her house, with rousing shouts of “Go, Marge!” In summer 2016 she was again independent. Subsequently, she experienced several more falls and rehabilitation experiences, including diagnosis of heart failure, but stubbornly resisted displacement from the home to which she remained so devoted. Last winter Susan managed to relocate her to Cincinnati, so that Margaret could enjoy daily visits with family, including her three grandchildren.
The family would like to thank Rose, William, and all the caregivers of Rohani Home Care for four years of loving care for Margaret at her home in Centerville. They would also like to thank the staff at the New England Club and in the corps of the Visiting Angels for a year of loving care in Cincinnati, and the staff at the Laurels of Milford, the Glen at Eastgate, and Queen City Hospice for graceful management of her final seven weeks.
Margaret is survived by her daughter Susan, her son-in-law Matthew Ward, her three grandchildren, Christopher, Elissa, and Julia Ward, all of Cincinnati, her brother John Hukill of Harbeson, DE, and his wife Jay, her sister-in-law Jane Hukill of Worton, MD, her sister-in-law Meredith Prince Morris of Chicago, and eight nieces and nephews and their many children and grandchildren. She was predeceased by her husband David and son James, and her brother Bob and nephew Bob Jr., to whom she was much devoted. A celebration of life will be held at Trinity Episcopal Church on March 3 at 11:00 am. Instead of flowers, donations may be sent to Trinity Episcopal Church or NAMI of Delaware.
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