Margaret Mead Gilbert

Margaret Mead Gilbert passed away on February 9th, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. She was born in Vienna, Austria in 1927. Her parents were Dr. and Mrs. Ernest Charles Mead. Margaret was born in Vienna while her father was doing advanced medical study at the University of Vienna Medical School under the world renown Professor Erik Ruttim. She enjoyed telling people that as she was a foreign-born American that she could never be President of the United States.

She grew up in Gainesville, Texas and lived there until her first year at the University of Texas at Austin where she was a member of Alpha Phi sorority. The remainder of her college years were spent at Southern Methodist University. There she was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma (National Business Administration Honorary Society) and Lambda Delta Pi (National Education Honor Society) and graduated with a B.B.A. in 1948 and a Master of Elementary Education in 1952. Later she received an endorsement in Gifted Education from The University of Texas at Austin.

Margaret taught twenty-five enjoyable years in the Dallas Independent School District. She began by teaching at Obadiah Knight and then fifth grade at Nathan Adams. The remainder of her teaching years was in TAG (Talented and Gifted) at Dorsey and Silberstein, simultaneously.

In two different years, her classes were highlighted on television. The first one was concerning an exchange program with a fifth-grade class in Prince Edward Island in Canada. Another year, her classes project for the DISD Pilot Program in Career Education was taped at Nathan Adams and shown at the all-district principals meeting.

Margaret received the honor of “Teacher of the Year” at Dorsey and while teaching at Nathan Adams she received the “Ross Perot Excellence in Teaching” award.  Another honor was being included in Who’s Who in Teaching (USA Education). A short biography was included.

While teaching, she served as an advisor for the Addison-Wesley Reading Program on its new reading series being developed at that time.

As a member of Delta Kappa Gamma, she served as President of the Dallas Alumnus Chapter, as well as its national convention delegate to Boston, Massachusetts.

She was a lifetime member of the Gainesville, Texas First Presbyterian Church and a member of the first Young Life group in Texas.

Margaret enjoyed the outdoors, dogs, live theater, opera and crossword puzzles. She was a collector of Vaseline glass, postcards, small historical and foreign dolls, seashells and rocks, and Roger Tory Petersen bird prints.

She was greatly loved by her family Megan and Andy Meyercord, KC and Mackie Meyercord, and her friends and the Lord. Some of her greatest joys were seeing her daughter and then her grandchildren each grow into fine, loving adults and have her son-in-law become a member of the family.

Margaret is survived by her daughter, Megan Meyercord, son-in-law, Andy Meyercord; grandchildren, Andrew, Ben, Lee, Mackie and K.C. Meyercord as well as several nieces and nephews in New York, New Mexico, and Texas, two grand-puppies (Pugsly and Tene), and two great grand-puppies (Lilly and Nitro).

Margaret will be buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Gainesville, Texas.

Her favorite Bible Verse, John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Memorials may be sent to Straydog, Inc. P.O. Box 1465, Gun Barrel City, TX 75147 or the Salvation Army, 5554 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75235.