Margaret Gine Heise

Margaret Gine Heise was born in Woodland, Utah on September 7, 1936. She was the seventh child of twelve siblings. In Woodland, she grew up milking cows every morning at the crack of dawn. She and her siblings often had to hurry through the morning of farmwork or they would miss the bus to school. Sometimes they did.

One of Margaret’s favorite things was that at Christmastime, she and her sisters would wear matching dresses and sing at the church. They all would braid their long hair to match too!

Margaret went to college with the intention of being a P.E. teacher. She loved physical activity all of her life and especially enjoyed playing tennis during her college years. In a turn of events, an injury set her behind, so she began pursuing a degree in teaching instead. Margaret Heise taught elementary school for 43 years. She has a profound love and interest for all of her students. She often would recount different experiences she had with children, both the initially difficult-behaving ones and the easygoing ones. She always felt they left her classroom well-equipped. Margaret taught other ages too throughout her church callings in the primary, nursery, as a missionary to a Spanish branch, and as the church librarian.

She was very blessed to meet her beloved spouse, Edwin David Heise at a church stake dance. Her sister had wanted to go and although Margaret never did go to those church dances much, she was sure glad she went to this one. She wore a bright red dress she had made herself and David recounts that she was the prettiest girl in the whole room. While dating, there were a couple of hours between her job and his job so that they would meet up, eat some lunch together, and then head on their merry ways.

Margaret and David were blessed to have four wonderful children, Gary, Carrie, Darrell, and Shana. Margaret thought of her children as wonderfully creative and hard-working. She had a keen interest in their activities from building a house to going on a mission. That same keen interest carried to her seven grandchildren whom she diligently wrote cards to and called throughout the years to see what they were up to. On Saturdays, she would always take her children to the park, put boats on the lake, and just have fun.

Teaching left her little time, so she was very diligent in keeping their Saturday family time. Margaret enjoyed reading, learning, visiting, serving, watching people, painting, and the great outdoors. She loved to go on family reunion vacations, a drive to the mountains, and even went to be with her daughter Carrie, in Oregon several times within the last year of her life.

Amusement parks and church history sites were also some of her treasured experiences in life. She said she always wanted to do more things like that but never had time. Margaret had many admirable qualities, from endurance and work ethic to a very sassy humor. She told lively, funny stories, and loved to laugh. Margaret had great joy out of joshing around with her grandchildren and was also particularly good at participating in pranks. Along with that, Margaret had a stubborn side too. When she made up her mind, she was firm about it and she was not afraid to tell others what she thought. She could be sharp, and she could be fun. Her greatest endeavor throughout life was bringing the family together. Nothing upset her more than bickering and discord, nothing brought her more joy than to see others getting along well and having a good time.

She had a profound testimony of her Savior, Jesus Christ, and loved the words of the ancient and living prophets. She delighted in general conference time when she would enthusiastically declare “it was good” and lead the choir from her living room seat. Prayer was her staple throughout life. She could be caught in some long prayers in her kitchen from time to time and knew there was so much good in it. Margaret was strong, vigorous, and healthy. She never did get sick much, yet she was a survivor of some serious health challenges. She won a bout of meningitis, overcame uterine cancer, was in remission for stage four breast cancer, and nearly blinked her way through COVID-19. Throughout her life, she saw and experienced many hard things, but those things did not shake her even if they got her down from time to time. Margaret was a firm fighter through and through. She is remembered lovingly by her two daughters, Carrie and Shana, and her seven grandchildren, Kentzie, Aubrey, Benjamin, Tyce, Haley, Jacob, and Kaden.

A graveside funeral service will be held 10 a.m. Thursday, August 10, 2023 at the West End Cemetery (1574E 4150N) Buhl, Idaho.