[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 149 (Tuesday, November 16, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1933-E1934]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING MARGARET STEWART

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DAVID DREIER-

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, November 16, 2010

  Mr. DREIER. Madam Speaker, it is with great sadness I submit for the 
record, together with my friend and colleague Representative Jerry 
Lewis, the obituary of our dear friend Maggie Stewart of Upland, 
California. Maggie was a formidable community leader, activist, 
volunteer and philanthropist. San Antonio Community Hospital, Boy 
Scouts and Girl Scouts, United Way, Kiwanis Club of Upland, Soroptimist 
Club of Ontario and the Assistance League of Upland are just a few of 
the community organizations that benefitted from her outstanding 
service. As we remember her extraordinary life and accomplishments, 
Maggie's two daughters, Shirley Preston of Rancho Cucamonga and Carol 
Hawkins of Upland, four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren 
remain in our thoughts and prayers. The contributions of this 
tremendous woman will continue to make a difference in the lives of so 
many in our communities.

         [From the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Nov. 16, 2010]

             Stewart Family Matriarch Leaves a Rich Legacy

                            (By John Jopes)

       I learned Monday that Margaret Stewart had died. And I was 
     hurt by that.
       She was not only a friend, but also was part of a withering 
     vestige of our community's rich history. Because of that, the 
     end

[[Page E1934]]

     of Maggie's life tolls a particular sadness, and marks a 
     conclusion of an astonishing life.
       Maggie married into the Stewart pioneer family when she was 
     23; that was in 1944. Her husband, Walter Stewart, was heir 
     to the family's citrus ranches that date back to the 1890s. 
     Walter, a former member of the Ontario City Council, died in 
     2004.
       The Stewart family, among others, fashioned the character 
     of an agrarian community that evolved into the vibrant valley 
     it was to become.
       But by anyone's reckoning, Margaret Stewart was her own 
     kind of dynamo. In 1939 Maggie (Margaret Sanders then) was 
     elected president of the Chaffey High School student body. 
     She not only was the first girl in the school's history to 
     win that post, but she had to whip a star football player to 
     do it.
       ``My mother was always so proud of that,'' her daughter 
     Carol Hawkins said the other day.
       That high school victory was a watershed for Maggie, for 
     she was smitten with politics, and her love for it remained 
     with her from that time forward. Although she never served in 
     public office, she steered countless such campaigns, and 
     helped elect scores of officeholders during the remainder of 
     her life. Some of them still serve in high places.
       A headline from a yellowed newspaper clipping describing 
     Maggie's political prowess referred to her simply as ``Mrs. 
     Republican.'' She earned that sobriquet, and answered to it 
     with pride.
       She was a founder of the influential Chaffey District Young 
     Republicans in 1950, and later served as chairman of the San 
     Bernardino County Republican Central Committee. She used the 
     power of that post with envied skill and fairness.
       Maggie was a delegate to three Republican National 
     Conventions (1988, 1992 and 1996).
       But she spread her goodness liberally beyond the local and 
     national political stage and was active with numerous local 
     organizations whose missions were to make the community a 
     better place in which to live. She just as well could have 
     been referred to a ``Mrs. San Antonio Community Hospital,'' 
     or ``Mrs. Spanish Trails Girl Scout Council.'' The list could 
     go on.
       At the 2004 San Antonio Community Hospital's President's 
     Award Dinner honoring Maggie, she was praised for her work 
     with the United Way, the Assistance League of Upland, the 
     hospital's auxiliary, PTA and other organizations. She 
     possessed a myriad of awards, local, county and statewide.
       Maggie liked to describe herself as a freelancer in the 
     public relations field, and her clients, as well as newspaper 
     people, agreed that she was an expert in that exercise. 
     ``Maggie is a gentle arm-twister,'' an editor once said.
       She possessed another trait--she was particularly generous, 
     and had the knack of making other people feel especially 
     important when she talked to them. Ask anyone who knew her.
       But Maggie's labor in the fields of community good came at 
     no expense to her duties as an accomplished homemaker and a 
     loving and supportive parent. Kathy Brugger, a close friend, 
     once wrote, ``Family is not just a word to Maggie, but a 
     commitment. She continues to be there for her children, 
     grandchildren and great-grandchildren.''
       Maggie's place in history also is well-established. She and 
     her family spent 28 years living in the Stewart ranch home 
     constructed in 1895 by Walter's grandfather, W.B. Stewart. 
     When new, it was surrounded by citrus groves.
       Although no longer owned by the family, the historic Queen 
     Anne home (regarded as a mansion in its earliest days) was 
     occupied, at one time or another, by five generations of 
     Stewarts. It still stands at 830 W. Sixth St. in Ontario.
       In the new part of their marriage, Maggie and Walter, like 
     other citrus growers, confronted the conflict between warm 
     smudge pots and cruel frost in a struggle to save their fruit 
     from certain death. The pots were fired by men and boys who 
     ran through the night, a dance of sorts that left the valley 
     veiled in dark smoke.
       One of the Stewart groves was at the county roads of Arrow 
     Highway and Mountain in Upland. Stewart Plaza, an office 
     building and commercial complex, now stands on that site.
       Maggie was born Margaret Sanders in Ontario on July 9, 
     1921, the only child of William and Mary Sanders. Her father 
     was a Southern California Edison Co. employee.
       Maggie attended local schools, and she graduated from 
     Chaffey College.
       In the early 1940s, she worked in the offices of the Cal 
     Aero Academy (now Chino Airport) where thousands of young men 
     were trained before they flew off to World War II.
       She also was employed as a secretary at the General 
     Electric flatiron plant in Ontario.
       In 1944 she and Walter, who was a highly decorated Marine 
     fighter pilot while serving in the South Pacific, settled 
     down to married life. Maggie soon began what was to be her 
     extraordinary career in community service. It would be a 
     lifetime devotion.
       Maggie's death at her Upland home on Monday at the age of 
     89, was brought on by a lengthy period of diminishing health 
     and the result of a recent fall. No one would disagree Maggie 
     Stewart led a full and rewarding life, a life that has left a 
     place better than it was before her time.
       She is survived by two daughters, Shirley Preston of Rancho 
     Cucamonga and Carol Hawkins of Upland. Besides her husband, 
     she was preceded in death by a daughter, Sandy Lee. Four 
     grandchildren and seven great-grand children also survive.
       Funeral services will be Friday at 1 p.m. at Life Bible 
     Fellowship Church, 2426 N. Euclid Ave., Upland.
       The family said memorial contributions can go to Charter 
     Hospice, attention: Bonnie Beck, 1012 E. Cooley Drive, Suite 
     G, Colton, CA 92324; or San Antonio Community Hospital 
     Foundation, 999 San Bernardino Road, Upland, CA 91786.

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