Olivia Lunsford Interview: Great Grandma Magaret

Awesome Great Grandma

      Many people have done cool things in their lives, and my great grandma did some super cool things in her life. My great grandma's full name is Margaret Mae Hall Bedard. She is 90 years old, still has a job at a real estate office, and still drives a car. She even met a President of the United States of America! Great Grandma Margaret was alive during World War II and remembers many things.

    Grandma Margaret was born in Detroit, Michigan, on January 5, 1925. Her dad worked at a trailer manufacturing shop. When she was three years old, her family moved to Oscoda, Michigan, where her dad got a job as a commercial fisherman on Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes. Grandma Margaret's house in Oscoda had a front porch but no garage or car. Her family didn't have much money, but they had a hunting dog. She didn't have many toys as a kid, but she liked sports like baseball, basketball, and football. As Grandma Margaret got older, her
dad started setting traps for animals, and he taught her how to skin weasels, muskrats, and rabbits. She started going to school in Baldwin, Michigan. Grandma Margaret liked ancient history and played baseball in the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. Her best friend, June Moore, went to school with her. She graduated from high school in 1943. She never went to college.

     Grandma Margaret was 17 years old when the war started in 1939. She had to save lots of things like gas, food, tires, and tin foil for the war effort. She even had to save tin foil gum wrappers! Some people at school quit to become solders in the war. After school, Grandma Margaret started working at a war plant with a thread grinding machine that made bolts for B-24 bomber planes. "I was a Rosie the Riveter," said Grandma Margaret proudly, "Putting rivets on escape hatches for the bottoms of bomber planes." 
 

     On December 25, 1943, Grandma Margaret got engaged to John Frederick Bedard. One year later, she married him on January 1. She had four sons altogether. She named her oldest son John Craig after her husband. Her second son was named David George after her dad. Her
third son was named Michael Lynn because she really wanted a girl, and her last son was named William Richard after her husband's father and her brother. Grandpa Bedard worked as a seaman in the U.S. Merchant Marine, the fleet of ship that carried solders, ammunition, and supplies to different camps. He told a story of when he was on one of the boats; two ships beside him sank, and he thought his boat would sink, too! Grandma Margaret sent a letter to Grandpa Bedard every day. Sometimes her letters came to him all at once!

     The war ended on September 2, 1945. Grandpa Bedard lived through the war, but on October 25, 1997, he died two months and  six days before their 54th anniversary. They spent most of their married lives in Farwell, Michigan.

     Grandma Margaret is proud of many things she has done, but she said she is most proud of her boys. All her boys were in the military and grew up to be good men. Because of her boys, she was the national president of the Blue Star Mothers (mothers of sons and daughters in
the army) and traveled all over the United States. At one time she shook hands with President  Clinton and Vice President Gore, and she had breakfast in the White House!

     Now Grandma Margaret is having a happy and healthy life, even though she is ninety years old. Her boys take good care of her and check on her frequently. Her son, David George Bedard, is my grandpa. I love Great Grandma Margaret.