Long, Margaret Unklesbee View/Sign Guest Book


Margaret Unklesbee Long Margaret Unklesbee Long, 93, of Lakeland, Florida, passed away peacefully Wednesday, January 16, 2008, at Broadview Assisted Living in Tallahassee after a brief but devasting bout with Lou Gehrig's Disease. She was born to Jacob and Susan Unklesbee in Freeport, Illinois, on February 8, 1914, and spent her early years in Washington, D.C., where her father was a streetcar motorman for the D.C. Transit Authority and her mother a housewife. She graduated from Eastern High School in Washington, where she lettered in field hockey and basketball, and later attended Washington's Wilson Teacher's College. On November 25, 1937, she married Woodrow W. Long, also of Washington, and moved to Silver Spring, Maryland, where they lived until Woodrow's retirement in 1981 and their subsequent move to Lakeland. She and Woodrow celebrated over 64 years of marriage until his death July 28, 2002. Since her early years, she was a committed Christian, who taught children's Sunday School, sang in the choir, and was active in all of her home churches in Washington, Silver Spring and Lakeland. She volunteered with Cub Scouts, the library, and in hospitals in Silver Spring and Lakeland, and showed her unfailing and genuine love for others through her many phone calls, cards and letters. She was a dear friend to many in Lakeland, Tallahassee and elsewhere, who showered her with love, cards, flowers, prayers and special visits until the last. But most of all, she was a wonderful, caring Christian mother and grandmother with a giving heart, a mischievous sense of humor and a radiant smile that persisted no matter what the circumstances. She is survived by her son, Jeffrey Long (and wife Carole); her grandson, Matt Long, of Nashville, Tenn.; her granddaughter, Christine Hamilton (and husband Troy) of Collegeville, Pa.; her new great-grandson, Owen Matthew Hamilton, also of Collegeville; and several nieces and nephews. In addition to her husband and parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Franklin and Mervin Unklesbee, and her sister, Leora Beckstrom. Services will be held at 11 a.m. EST Tuesday, January 22, 2008, at Lakeside Baptist Church, 1736 New Jersey Road, Lakeland, FL 33803. Family will receive friends at the church prior to the services from 10 to 11 a.m. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Lakeland Funeral Home & Memorial Gardens (863-686-2125), 2125 South Bartow Hwy., Lakeland, FL 33801. Contributions in her honor may be made to the Big Bend Hospice, 1723 Mahan Center Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32308.
Published in the Tallahassee Democrat on 1/19/2008.