Margaret Bingham Keith

CHICKASHA, OK -- Margaret Bingham Keith, age 70, died peacefully at home on Monday, February 16, 2009. Margaret was born July 11, 1938, in Wichita, KS., the sixth of 13 children of Bessie and Walter Marion Bingham. Margaret grew up in Kansas and Arkansas, where she attended school and graduated from Leon High School in Leon, KS in 1957. Family mattered most to Margaret. She married George Allan Keith in 1970 and together they raised 4 daughters and lived in many places including Kansas, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and Arkansas (the home they loved most of all). She was many things in her lifetime: talented and loving wife, mother, entrepreneur, church servant/custodian, and was considered by many who knew her as a "One Woman Welcome Wagon" due to her desire to cook and sew for and openly welcome people into the church and her neighborhood. The many friends she acquired this way knew her as "Margie". She had a passion for antiques, which she used to operate a successful antiques store called "Marge"™s Country Attic" in Chickasha, OK during the 1980"™s. She had an ability to find the value and significance in so many things that others often overlooked. Her incredible memory enabled her to share great stories about her family, especially about her father and paternal grandmother, both of whom she loved dearly. She loved the smell of lilacs, tobacco and wood burning stoves (which reminded her of her childhood), as well as a wide variety of music and books and phone calls from family. Margaret became a Christian (along with her husband George) in 1980 thanks to the influence of longtime friends Joanne and Charles Renfro of Augusta, KS. Margaret was preceded in death by her husband George and siblings Buddy Bingham, Charles Bingham, Larry Bingham, Peggy Ralston, and Ruth Rude. She is survived by her daughters Corrina Keith-Brown, Morgan Keith, Shana Keith-Ward, and George Brooks; and by siblings Hazel VanHorn, Virginia Milner, Kay Graber, Susie Maxwell, Sherry McCandless, Linda Coiner, and Richard Bingham; as well as many grandchildren, one great grandchild, nephews, nieces, cousins, and in-laws. During the final stages of her illness, Margaret received excellent and loving care from Lifeline Hospice of Chickasha, OK. Her final wish was to have her body donated to scientific research through LifeLegacy Foundation and strongly encouraged family and friends to do the same. Memorial services will be held on Thursday, February 26th at 1:30 pm at the Southern Oaks Church of Christ in Chickasha, OK. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Margaret Bingham Keith please visit our Sympathy Store.