Margaret Schueler

Margaret ‘Margie’ Anna (McGregor) Schueler was born June 15, 1927, in Bardsdale, California, the daughter of Bruce Roy and Eva May (Root) McGregor. She was born six weeks early, weighing just two and a half pounds. A week after birth, having been warmed in a pillowed box near the kitchen oven, the family made a makeshift ambulance in the neighbor’s car and drove little Margie to the hospital. She remained there just until July but was a petite thing and a fighter all her life. She was raised on her father’s ranch in Fillmore, surrounded by a new orange grove and the occasional apricot and English walnut tree from the old groves. The youngest of four, she recalled spending her childhood, enjoying the rich scents and playing among the cool irrigation ditches in summer. Margie and the family ranch miraculously escaped the San Fransquito Canyon Dam collapse in 1928, thanks to a long line of eucalyptus trees, and survived at least one fire driven by the hot Santa Ana winds. The ranch grew, and Margie traveled to Chicago and New York with her father, selling citrus. She even recalled being in the Bronx with her father in 1938 and not being able to find accommodation, as it was the night of the big Joe Louis vs. Max Schmeling boxing match. Always in the mix of adventure was our own “Sluggo.” Margie recalled a happy, yet strict childhood filled with cats, dogs, and horses. She never lost that love for animals. She enjoyed school greatly, soaking in everything she could. She was highly social, dancing the jitterbug, listening to music, and going out with large groups of friends. A real tomboy most of her life, there was no challenge she wouldn’t dive deeply into, no matter who the adversary. She once served as a last-minute understudy for a boy in a school play, and after the family doctor insisted on calling her George. She said she discovered his middle name was Newton, took to calling him that, and a truce was made. Bold. She graduated from Fillmore United Schools in 1945, then attended Stephens College, graduating in 1947. Margie met the love of her life while still in high school, traveling down the 101 with her mother. The two came upon a handsome hitchhiking soldier, Elmer Schueler. They exchanged letters for several years and married on September 7, 1947. Margie, ever courageous, moved across the county to Fillmore County, Minnesota. The pair settled in the valley and bluffs north of Rushford, where they created Rush Arbor Ranch, building a thriving mink business while raising Hereford cattle and Airedale dogs. Margie also became a mother to five—Sharon, Marlene, Margaret (Peggi), Karl, and David. An avid outdoorswoman and hunter, Margie taught her family to thoroughly appreciate nature. She loved those hills where the ranch sat, and the view from the top, often dreaming about it when she could not get there in later years. Her children recall learning to cook the incredible meals she made from scratch, bake delicate pies, and preserve any type of food. They agree she never mastered lima beans. Margie was intelligent, quick-witted, and sometimes even snappish. She didn’t shirk any task: identifying every single type of plane purely by sound during the war, pelting mink, spending hours on a tractor keeping the minkyard, sitting patiently for that first deer of the year, tending dainty flower beds or skillfully coaxing all manner of vegetables from the sandy soil, sewing for the family and learning to make every cent count, dutifully tending a weak calf by the potbelly stove in the basement as the laundry chugged away, and being a wife and mother, full of responsibility. As a grandmother, she’d learned more patience and need to encourage than in the thick of motherhood, and taught her grandkids to farm, think for themselves, and be resilient. She continued to use her time for her family and community, watching kids, serving Meals on Wheels, cooking for senior dining, making more pies than could ever be counted, and volunteering her time. She loved going on rides up the watershed in the ranger, even on her 90th birthday, despite the steep terrain. When asked the one thing she wished she’d done in her life, she promptly noted she’d always wanted to skydive. Small package, big gumption. Margie’s faith remained the biggest constant in her life, and she served unselfishly for her congregation at First Presbyterian. She held a position on the board, joined in countless Presbyterian Women charitable outreach efforts, and played the organ, barely reaching the foot pedals, well into her late 80s. She loved music, particularly old hymns and Gershwin. She insisted that passages in the Bible should be understood, not merely read. Margie was known for her formidable determination (not stubbornness) and might have been the inspiration for the term “hopping mad.” But, behind it, she was passionate about the things she felt mattered. She leaves behind a wonderful legacy for her family. Margie is survived by her children Sharon (Wayne) Woxland, Marlene (Ken Fordahl) Schueler, Karl Schueler, and David (Holly) Schueler; 11 grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson. She is preceded in death by her husband, Elmer; daughter and son-in-law Peggi and Steve Redalen 

Services will be livestreamed. To watch the service remotely, please follow the link below. 

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