Obituary: Thrailkill, Margaret (Charters)

THRAILKILL, Margaret (Charters) Passed peacefully and comfortably with family members holding her hand, in the early morning of Sunday, February 1st, at Hospice of Spokane in Spokane.

She was 98 years old.

Margaret is survived by her three daughters: Mary Kellar of Las Vegas, Nevada; Nancy Kennedy of Spokane, Washington; and Virginia Ross of Bend, Oregon.

She is also survived by her grandson Ross Hobbs.

She is preceded in death by her son Charters Ross, husband Lou Thrailkill, husband Hal Utschig, and husband Robert C. Ross.

Margaret was born on April 5, 1916 in Spirit Lake, Idaho to Blanche and George Charters.

She graduated from Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, then earned her Master’s Degree in Business at New York University.

She married Bob Ross in Chicago in 1941.The couple moved to Spirit Lake, Idaho, in 1949 and took over operations of Margaret’s family’s general store until Bob passed in 1962.

A trip to Spokane to help a Spirit Lake boy enroll in Spokane Community College resulted in SCC asking Margaret to become an instructor in the Business Department, where she served until 1986.

Margaret’s number one passion was education, as evidenced by her many volunteer accomplishments, including: • Arranging for students to attend Spokane Symphony concerts at no charge • Founding the Brown Bag Speaker series for women • Supporting DECA activities • Funding Scholarships at Community Colleges of Spokane which continue to this day • Inspiring and assisting others to set up and maintain scholarship programs • Started “Margaret’s Closet,” a free sporting goods store, where troubled boys at the John Tyler Ranch could get good used clothing, ski equipment and other sporting goods • Longtime support and award of Educator of the Year, Spokane YWCA • Board of Directors, North Idaho College Foundation • Board of Directors, Washington Water Power • Board of Directors, Holy Names Center She also served as a volunteer for Goodwill Industries, KPBX Public Radio, Miryam’s House, Spokane Civic Theatre, Coeur d’Alene Community Theatre, Business Excellence, Hope House and more.

She was given other awards by Whitman College, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Washington Water Power.

Margaret met and fell in love with and married William “Lou” Thrailkill and the two lived full lives together for 19 years.

In the years following William’s death, Margaret studied business and energy in several countries around the world, including Sri Lanka, South Africa, Japan and Denmark, did graduate work at ten other universities, participated in a nine day raft trip down the length of Grand Canyon, and travelled four times around the world on Semester at Sea.

Join us in a celebration of Margaret’s life at 1:00PM on Saturday, February 21st at Heritage Funeral Home.

Reception to follow.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Community Colleges of Spokane Foundation, PO Box 6000, MS1005, Spokane, WA 99217-6000, or to Hospice of Spokane, PO Box 2215, Spokane, WA 99210.