Margaret Grace Alvis

Funeral services for Margaret Grace Alvis, 87, West Plains, Missouri, will be held at 10:00 a.m., Wednesday, October 31, 2012, in the Rose Chapel at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home. 

Miss Alvis died at 3:00 a.m., Sunday, October 28, 2012, at West Vue Nursing Center. 

She was born September 13, 1925, at Bristow, Oklahoma, to William S. Alvis and Bertha Allen Alvis.  The family resided in Bristow until Margaret was five years old.  In late 1930, they moved to Blaine County, Oklahoma, where they lived for nine years.  In early 1940, they purchased a farm in Howell County, Missouri, near Moody where they resided until they moved into West Plains in October of 1962.  Margaret was the oldest of four children; she dearly loved, appreciated and enjoyed her siblings.  She enjoyed people and had numerous lifetime friends.  Her life touched hundreds of people.  At the nursing home, she had many drop-in local and out-of-state visitors.  She also entertained regularly scheduled groups of friends for evening table games.  She enjoyed discussion groups as well.  In January, 1985, she entered the West Vue Nursing Center to recuperate from hip replacement surgery and while there she decided to make it her permanent residence.  Margaret was diagnosed with mild spastic type cerebral palsy and delayed early childhood development.  She was petite and struggled her entire lifetime with multiple disabilities.  Later in life, she had severe osteoporosis and in 1992, she became confined to a powered wheelchair for mobility.  She was self-educated, having little opportunity for formal schooling.  All of her life she was an avid reader and enjoyed reading whatever became available to her, but her favorite topics were travel, history and Bible.  Writing was also a lifelong hobby.  Beginning in 2008, she wrote a newspaper column for the West Vue Retirement Community campus.  In 1998, the nursing center made the internet available to its residents and she thoroughly enjoyed using the computer for reading and writing.  On September 14, 1947, Margaret became a member of the Church of Christ, worshiping with the Moody congregation for fifteen years then with South Curry Street Church of Christ in West Plains.

She is survived by one brother, Ray Alvis and wife, Fern, Pomona, Missouri; one sister, Freda Mayfield and husband, Ron, Ozark, Missouri; two nieces, Ronda Alvis Barry and husband, Dade and Cheryl Mayfield Hocker, and husband, Tom; one great-nephew, Brian Barry and wife, Brittany. 

Her parents and one brother, Elmer Alvis, precede her in death.

Visitation will be held from 9:00 a.m., until service time on Wednesday, October 31, 2012, at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.  Burial will be in the Howell Memorial Park Cemetery.  Memorial contributions may be made to Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation or Gideon Bibles, and may be left at Robertson-Drago Funeral Home.