Margaret Stearns

Margaret Lucile Van Horn Glover Stearns passed away with her daughter Susan by her side on April 9, 2020 at age 96 after a short illness.  Peggy was born on August 3, 1923 in Cleveland, Ohio to Irving and Ethel Savold Van Horn and grew up in East Cleveland, the youngest child of four.  Her mother was a clubwoman, active in PEO and other organizations, and her father worked as an electrical engineer and inventor for the General Electric Lamp Division at Nela Park.  She was especially fond of her maternal grandfather, Grandpa Ole. Growing up she spent many happy days at the family summer home near the shores of Lake Erie in Madison, Ohio, where she learned to play golf with clubs her father had cut down for her.  She was a 1941 graduate of Shaw High School and attended Denison University in Granville, Ohio, majoring in history and graduating in 1945.  As she recalled, the boys had gone away to war during that time and it was practically a girls’ school.  It was there that she took up bridge, playing for an hour after class every day with her roommates, and she continued playing–and winning–throughout her last years.  She also began playing tennis in college, which she continued into her eighties.  After graduating from college in 1945, she joined the WAVES and was stationed at Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Waukegan, Illinois, not very far away from Lisle, a suburb west of Chicago where she spent her final years.   After the Navy, she returned to Cleveland and worked for Thompson Products (Tapco) for the next few years.

In 1948 Peg met and married her husband, Walter S. Glover, who worked in finance for GE at Nela Park, and they raised a family of three girls (Bonnie, Susan and Judith) in South Euclid, on the east side of Cleveland. Over the years she traveled to every state in the U.S. except Idaho and Montana, around the world, including memorable visits to her daughter when they lived in Lebanon and France. She was also active at home, playing tennis and golf, doing needlepoint, crosswords, puzzles and games. She had a particular fondness for watching birds, visiting gardens and touring historic homes.  In 1981 Walter passed away, and in 1982 she married Warren Stearns, a family friend who had also worked for GE at Nela Park.  They then moved to Lake Wylie, South Carolina, where for over thirty years they enjoyed boating on the lake, golf, and tennis, and visits from family.  After Warren passed away in 2013, she moved to a senior living community in Lisle, Illinois, near her daughter Susan.  She lived in a fourth floor apartment with a large bay window from which she loved to watch the birds and the changing seasons.  She was known throughout her life for her determination, inventiveness, optimistic outlook, sense of adventure and fun, and for the ever-present love that she poured out onto her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.  She was thankful and appreciative and often said, “I can’t complain—I have had a wonderful life!”

Peg was preceded in death by her sisters Reva and Mildred and her brother Irving.  She was the beloved wife of the late Walter S. Glover and mother of Bonnie Stalls (Clay), Susan Craighead (Thomas), and Judith Cade (Gene); grandmother of Emily Craighead Teising (Ryan), Patrick Cade (Lindsey), Nora Glover (Craighead) Park (David), Anne Cade Groff (Matt), Samuel Stalls, and Jordan Stalls; great-grandmother of Tyson Park, Maisie Teising, Theo Groff, and Wyatt Park; and beloved wife of the late Warren Stearns, stepmother of Peggy Damiano (Frank) and Janet Stearns (Michael Kruse), and step-grandmother of Matt and Drew Damiano and Cara and Ellen Kruse.  Private funeral arrangements are being handled by David Fisher of Simplicity Funeral and Cremation Care, and a celebration of her life will be held at a later date.  In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to The Morton Arboretum, 4100 IL-53, Lisle, IL 60532 or online at https://giving.mortonarb.org/donations

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