Margaret
Howerton Saso
April
4, 1918 - November 24, 2005
Margaret went home to be with her Jesus at approximately 1:50 a.m. on Thanksgiving day, 2005. While the family was saddened by her loss, she was having Thanksgiving with the Lord she so longed to be with. Margaret had become considerably weaker the last year of her life here on earth, particularly during the last two months. She was admitted to the hospital on November 5 due to extreme shortness of breath and a badly swollen leg caused by water retention--both from congestive heart failure. She was sent to a nursing home to recover about a week later, but was soon back in the hospital, where she eventually passed away silently in her sleep. While her body faded, her mind remained sharp to the end. Her last evening on earth was marked by a multitude of family and friends surrounding her in her hospital room. She was loved by so many people and was known as a tremendous prayer warrior. Her love for the Lord was evident in the number of "Letters to God" she wrote. As she wished, her home-going celebration was held on Sunday, December 4, at Jubilation Fellowship Assembly of God in Murphy (where she lived) with Pastor Dave Wright officiating. A private family burial at Hillcrest Memorial Cemetery was held immediately thereafter. She is buried next to her husband, Joe. She will be greatly missed, but we have the promise we will see her again when we reach Heaven.
The Lord had previously spared Margaret from death seven times:
1.When she was twelve she got pneumonia so severely she was delirious for many days and didn't know where she was. She awoke to a figure standing at the foot of her bed--it gave the appearance of being the Lord--she could see no face. After that she got well.
2.When Margaret went to the doctor because she discovered she was pregnant with her youngest daughter, Jerri Lynn, the doctor told her if she had not become pregnant she would have surely died because she was dangerously anemic.
3.Margaret was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer in 1989 and was given 6 months to live. Her daughter Donna and husband Bill took her to the Jubilation Assembly of God church for prayer. Pastor Dave Wright prayed intently for her and she felt the warmth of the Holy Spirit come down. She began volunteering as librarian for Donna at the Rogue Community College Small Business Development Center in 1984 and eventually found it necessary to retire in 2004.
4.In 1994 Margaret was not feeling well. The doctor diagnosed her with the flu and told her to go home and rest. After almost a month of insisting she was still not well and neither the doctor or the hospital responding, she fainted on the bathroom floor--her head landing in the wastebasket. Again Bill and Donna responded. This time Donna demanded the hospital see her. Margaret had been living with a ruptured bowel--caused from her cancer surgery and the doctors just throwing her back together as they thought she would not live. The rupture had sent poison throughout her system, causing septicemia. Her heart rate was beating dangerously fast--in the 300s and she was delirious and unresponsive. Donna awoke that evening to the Holy Spirit prompting her to bring a cassette player and praise tape into the intensive care wing of the hospital and to read her the Psalms. Donna did as prompted and Margaret awoke praising the name of Jesus. Apparently, her guardian angel kept the cassette player, which was in plain sight and playing, hidden. As it wasn't until a few days later when Margaret was "out of the woods" that the nurses saw it and advised the family that cassette players were not allowed in intensive care. It was then her daughter Donna pleased with the Lord for just ten more years with her mother. He gave her a bonus of one year, as she lived for another eleven years.
5.On April 29, 2002, Margaret awoke at 4:30 in the morning hemmoraging. She called Donna's husband Bill, who rushed to her aid as Donna called 911. Margaret lost 5 of her 7 pints of blood from a bleeding ulcer. Again, she came close to death. The Lord, once again, spared Margaret, who is a useful willing vessel for Him.
6.In August of 2003 Margaret's heart was racing at 140 bpm for a full week. She was also suffering from congestive heart failure and the doctor was surprised she didn't have a stroke. But prayer brought her through again. It took her almost a year to fully regain her strength and she is still on medication for the congestive heart failure. Her pace slowed from that point but her mind remained at 100%.
7.Margaret became ill once again mid-March of 2005. She had been getting progressively weaker and developed Bronchitis, which eventually turned into pneumonia. She was hospitalized on March 20 and given 3 pints of blood. If she hadn't gone to the hospital, she probably would not have lasted another day. More noted: Margaret was a prayer warrior who loved and served the Lord to her death. Early History: At the age of about three or four, after her father left the household, Margaret with her mother, brothers and sisters moved to Shelbyville, Missouri, to be near her grandmother who helped support the struggling single-parent household on her Civil War pension. While Shelbyville boasted a population of only 900, its education system was one of the finest in the area and little Margaret excelled. Sadness came to the Howerton household when grandma died and Margaret's mother fought a brave battle against poverty by taking in washing and ironing and selling Avon--anything she could do to support her family.
Margaret, at 17, graduated Valedictorian of her class and eventually, at 18, landed the loan cashier job that resulted in her meeting Joe.
Submitted by Donna (Howerton-Saso) Love Grants Pass, OR
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