Margaret “Maggie” Cleary Mortell died peacefully on January 23, 2021, at Sanctuary Hospice in Tupelo, Mississippi. Maggie will be buried with her husband following a graveside service at Fairview Cemetery in Stillwater, Minnesota later this summer.
The daughter of Peter and Myrine (Borchers) Cleary, Maggie was born on January 12, 1938 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the youngest of four children. Following high school, Maggie earned her RN degree and spent two years in New Mexico working as a nurse on a reservation. She returned to Wisconsin and worked as the nurse at a summer camp, where she met the love of her life, William “Patrick” Mortell, who served as the camp director at the time. Patrick and Maggie were married in Milwaukee, and they quickly expanded their family to include four children under five years old. Several years later the family moved to Houlton, Wisconsin, and Maggie spent the remainder of her nursing career as a night nurse at Greeley Nursing Home. Always a caregiver, she often stayed with her dying patients after a long night shift. Maggie was also active in St. Michael’s parish, where she was a member of the church choir and an active volunteer in charitable works. Maggie was an avid gardener and maintained an acre- large vegetable garden that sustained her family through each winter. She was also a collector of many, many things, from which she did not easily separate. Outgoing, opinionated, and unfiltered, Maggie was a talker unparalleled by anyone and often resulting in her husband saying, “Do you ever stop talking?” – though sometimes in less diplomatic terms. Through her open heart and ability to connect, Maggie made numerous, dear lifelong friends, cared for and loved animals as family, and welcomed all into her home and heart. After losing Patrick in 1997, she relocated to Oxford, Mississippi in 2006 to be near grandchildren. She became a member of St. John’s Catholic Church, and she made multiple friendships and connections there, especially in the St. John’s Tuesday morning prayer group. She also enjoyed being a member of the North Oxford Baptist Church Explorer’s Bible Study. Maggie delighted in being involved in her grandchildren’s lives, and their presence brought her much peace and comfort at her end.
In addition to her husband, Maggie was preceded in death by her parents and her brothers, Peter, Robert, and Tom Cleary. Survivors include her children: John Mortell, Tim Mortell, Laura Mortell (Dan Bourdaghs), and Carol Langendoen. Her four grandchildren include Madeline Nelson, Maya, Noah, and Isabelle Langendoen, and one great-grandson Maxwell Hugh Nelson. Maggie also loved her many extended family members and friends, including Eddy Langendoen, the women of WWW (Women, Wine, and Whine), multiple nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law and many amazing community friends and neighbors.
Her family would like to thank the staff of Sanctuary Hospice for the compassionate care Maggie received over the past months, as well as all the members of the Oxford community that assisted in her caregiving needs over the years. In lieu of flowers, Maggie would have wanted donations to be made to a church or animal shelter of your choice, or to Sanctuary Hospice in Tupelo, Mississippi.
