Margaret Jenkins Hudson brought so much to so many

My first wife died this past Saturday.

While not unexpected, as she had been battling cancer, it was still a blow for the family.

Margaret had rarely been ill during the years I'd known her, but she was diagnosed with cancer earlier this year.

She went through two operations and a round of chemotherapy to eradicate the cancer, only to discover that, while the treatment had eliminated the original cancer, a second, more invasive and quicker growing sarcoma had developed.

Regardless, she faced the news much like she did with the loss of first her beloved father and then her devoted mother and various other ups and downs that life threw at her, with a positive outlook.

I knew in those last two talks we had, there might not be another.

She knew that too, when she called me the morning of Friday, April 18, to tell me, she didn't have much time and she knew the end was near.

Margaret lived the Arnold Schwarzenegger statement, "No Fear," making this a reality for those of us who knew her.

Even when she knew she was facing the end, she told me in our next-to-last conversation on Thursday, April 17, "I'm not worried about me. I'm not afraid."

Few of us in that position could have said that, much less, lived it.

Her spirit makes it even more unreal to think she's gone.

The woman known as momma to our daughter Holly and her son Marc, grandmother to his family and as Aunt Margaret to my children with my wife Barbara, Margaret Jenkins Hudson was many things.

Family was something that was always important to Margaret and she enjoyed the regular family reunions that brought together her sisters Mary and Evelyn and their families at her parents' home in rural Tennessee and later on her and their visits.

Friends were dear to her. Carolyn Elliott and Linda Atwood were two of her closest, Carolyn from Meg's time in Memphis and Linda from Meg's time in Hendersonville.

And like true friends, they were there as support to Margaret in her final days.

A retired educator with a life devoted to her students, Margaret taught English for many years in public schools, first in Florida, then later in the Memphis area and then still later outside Nashville in Sumner County.

Even after retirement, she continued to teach, subbing or tutoring.

She tried to attend her former schools' reunions as often as she could and she remained connected to her friends and former co-workers throughout her life.

Margaret had a love of literature and of the spoken word and often served, even in later years, as my ready source for grammatical knowledge and was always willing to provide clarification and understanding.

She loved the works of many a noted author and poet, discussing the intricacies of their writings with her students over the years.

"Sonnets from the Portuguese" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of her most treasured as was "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, hence her fondness for Meg, as many called her.

Her love of the written word was only equaled by her love of music, and a variety at that, from rock to easy listening, although country and folk were her favorites.

I can still remember going with her to see Bob Dylan, a personal favorite of hers but not so much on my list of likes.

She also enjoyed a variety of movies and a number of varied TV shows, spending time watching and then discussing the plots, from "Moonstruck" and later movies such as the "Wolf of Wall Street" to today's serialized television shows.

We met through sports, as she submitted stories about the junior high sports teams where she taught, sending them into the local paper.

When Margaret was pregnant with Holly, I can still remember not being allowed to leave the newspaper where I worked until I had finished putting the sports pages together.

Fortunately, I made it in plenty of time for Holly's birth, as she didn't seem to be in any hurry to arrive.

Later, Margaret and I went through years of visits to doctors and hospitals across the country as we did our best to help our daughter deal with a variety of medical challenges, which Holly has learned to handle with her mom's positive nature and good grace.

Just as she did in facing the end of her life, Margaret was always thoughtful, upbeat and pragmatic.

Her link with our daughter has remained unbelievably tight, even as Meg's family expanded with the beloved addition of grandkids and great-grandchildren.

Even as she battled through the cancer in these waning weeks and slipped in and out of sleep, her spiritual presence manifested itself to Holly as "my mom's shadow."

Holly told Barbara that she had seen her mom's shadow twice, outside watching her on our front porch swing and then standing in her bedroom one night, each time appearing as a comforting and smiling visage.

The morning of Margaret's passing, we didn't sleep easily. Planning to visit Margaret for perhaps the last time, we had stayed up till past 1 a.m. to get all the packing done for the six to seven-hour trip.

Yet at 5 a.m., I was wide-awake.

I felt Margaret's presence, even though I didn't see her.

Later, I found out that Barbara had too. Neither of us wanted to wake the other because of the long drive ahead later that morning.

When we got the call that morning from Marc, we weren't surprised, feeling Margaret had come to us that last time to say goodbye.

Now, all of us have the memories that she and we created and the time to reflect on this lovely person who graced our lives and who will live on through her family, countless friends, fellow educators and the many students she touched.

This world lost a warm, kind, funny, brilliant soul who graced us with her presence and positive spirit.