Margaret Faith Woelfle

Margaret Faith Woelfle, (nee’ Cummings), previously Margaret Faith Carter, age 98, died on December 2, 2022, in Chicago, Illinois after a long and active life. She was born in Henry County, Alabama on November 24, 1924, to James Edward Cummings and Mabel Cleo Money. She was the oldest of nine children in a family that grew cotton and ran a country store in Abbeville Alabama.

She is survived by her four children, Alana Carter, John (Flora) Carter, Cynthia (James) Cooley, and Henry Carter; grandchildren, Tammy (the late Daniel) Boblink, Kerri (Ed Weglarz) Barnes, John Barnes, David Barnes, Bill (Lynne) Barnes, Tony (Shannon) Barnes, James Stovall and Joel Stovall; 17 great grandchildren, 10 great-great grandchildren, her brother Paul Cummings, and sisters Betty Cummings and Linda (the late Thomas) Beckham; and many nieces and nephews.  She is preceded in death by her parents, her children Timothy and Hilda Carter, husband Robert Woelfle, great grandson Daniel Barnes, brothers James “Bebe” Cummings, William “Bill” Cummings, Robert “Bob” Cummings, Donald “Pug” Cummings, and sister Mary “Mickey” Davis.

Margaret married Allen Carter in 1943 and they soon moved to Chicago to raise their growing family. They had six children. Their son Timothy died just before his first birthday in 1952 and daughter Hilda died in 1955 at 10 years old.

She loved taking care of her children and was a proud homemaker. She was a gifted seamstress and made curtains for her house, and clothes for her children (and grandchildren). She made Christmas dresses for her daughters with crinoline to make the skirts puff out. The girls were the envy of their friends, but her daughter Cindy recalls the stiff itchy feel of the crinoline being pure torture. She also made shirts for the boys, a western design for her son John was remembered as a highlight. 

She was also a wonderful cook. She prepared for holidays for days, laying out the table decorations and dishes in the days leading up to the meal, making desserts ahead of time, and timing the steps of the dishes with perfection. She had a large dining room table and would add folding tables throughout her apartment to accommodate the large groups of family and friends she loved to cook for.

Her children loved being home sick with her. She always made it a special time for them and would make treats, such as homemade éclairs.

Margaret and Allen divorced, and she sought work outside the house to make ends meet. She worked for a time as a seamstress at Marshall Field’s, altering wedding gowns. She also found work in carpet sales at Clark Rug and Carpet where she met her second husband Robert (Bob) Woelfle. They married in 1963. She welcomed his adult children and his grandson from his first marriage with love and remained in touch with them and their extended families after Bob’s death in 1988. She also looked after his sister Edie until her death in 1992.

After her marriage to Bob, she worked as a bill collector at Nationwide Finance Company, and later at Sprint. Her bosses at Sprint arranged for her to have a pension, even though she had not worked there long enough to qualify for one.

Bob and Margaret were members of the Broadway Methodist church, and were very active in the church community.

Margaret and Bob took up square dancing and she made her dresses, and his matching shirts and bowties. They had many friends in the square dance community and traveled around the country for exhibitions. They were members of the Indepen-dancers for years. 

Later, after Bob passed away, she joined a club called The Shuffling Squares, in Edison Park, where she met Lloyd Larsen. She and Lloyd were long-time companions and enjoyed dancing and traveling together.

She also loved to dress up for Halloween. She and Bob would attend costume parties, and she often won the contests she entered. She dressed in everything from a French maid to a Devil, to Cleopatra, and was famous for her expression, “dressing to the 9’s”, as she spared no effort when putting together a costume or outfit.

Baking was another hobby for her, and she made cakes for everyone’s birthdays. Her granddaughters had “doll cakes” with expertly decorated frosting dresses. She liked to bake themed cakes and would plan for months to ensure that everything was perfect.  She also loved to make Christmas cookies. She and her sister Betty and granddaughter Tammy would bake several dozen varieties of cookies and make tins to give as gifts to friends and family. Each cookie was individually wrapped to ensure that the flavors and texture of each cookie was not ruined by other cookies.

Margaret and her brother Paul were the family historians. They spent many years gathering information from family bibles, traveling to speak to family members in the south where they were from, and accumulating pictures of people and headstones. Their research has been the basis for a large collection of data shared to Ancestry.com on the family.

She was also passionate about helping the less fortunate. She worked as a volunteer at the Salvation Army for many years, making and serving meals for seniors, and assisting with fundraisers for outreach programs.

Another of her great joys was being a grandmother. She loved teaching cooking, sewing, and general housekeeping lessons, traveling to see her out of state grandchildren. She always found a way to make her visits memorable.

In later years, Margaret lived at the Senior Suites of Jefferson Park in Chicago. She had many fond memories of her time there, and of course made many friends. In 2018 Margaret suffered a “mild” stroke that left her unable to live independently. She continued to push herself and her therapists to regain her strength, and loved to “show off” her progress when friends and family visited her at Norwood Crossing, in Norwood Park, Illinois. She made many friends there and was very active in the social, religious, artistic, and musical programs offered at the home. 

While she had limited mobility, she still made cards for birthdays, and she loved organizing and mailing pictures to family and friends and talking on her phone.  A device called a “GrandPad” enabled her to have video chats with people, which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Anyone who stopped by her room to say hello would get a lesson in family history along with a tour of whatever photo album she was assembling (or disassembling) that day. The staff often shared that they loved her stories and her southern accent. She still kept a tidy room, and family members were promptly put to work when they arrived to make sure her clothes were arranged correctly, and her drawers were organized. She even had a picture of her bed made up the correct way on her wall, and she pointed to the picture to teach the staff how to make proper corners.

She was also befriended by one of the volunteers, who originally was supposed to be “floating” among residents at the home, but fell in love with her and became like a member of the family.  Jeannie and her daughters were a special part of Margaret’s life during her time at Norwood Crossing.

Everyone remembers her as a warm and caring person, and she truly never met a stranger. She had a gift for making people feel special and loved. She has left a legacy of grace and kindness, and an example of strength and endurance despite life’s challenges. She will be dearly missed by her loving family and her many friends.

Visitation will be held on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, from 3:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m. with a service at 6:30 p.m. at Cooney Funeral Home located at 625 Busse Hwy. in Park Ridge, Illinois. Interment private.  For information, please call 847-685-1002 or visit www.cooneyfuneralhome.com 

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