Margaret Lee McKillop

Margaret Lee McKillop ( aka Peggy), 91 of Grants Pass, Oregon died on August 30, 2011 at her home in Grants Pass. Peggy was born July 1, 1920 in Madison, Wisconsin to Irene Maw and Henry Ernest Erdman. They moved to Berkeley, CA in 1922 when her father was appointed to a position at the University of California. When she was 5 they moved to a house her parents had built near the university with a view of the Golden Gate and the Campanile. She lived there until she married with her parents and sister Marty Lyons who now lives in Stockton, CA. Her first school, Hillside Elementary was subject to occasional tremors from the nearby San Andreas fault which caused some excitement. She attended Willard Jr Hi and University High School in Oakland. After graduation she attended Stanford for her freshman year and then transferred to the University of California. She graduated cum laude in economics and earned a certificate in social welfare during a graduate year. Later education included getting a teaching credential and USC where she participated in a Ford Foundation program. She returned to USC to earn a Masters Degree in Educational Administration. Scholastic honors included Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Phi Delta. She married a high school classmate, Scott Kilner, in 1941. They had one child, Karen, now Karen Janssen. The marriage was terminated in 1944. She later met John McKillop who had returned from several years fighting in the South Pacific. They married and a son, Malcolm was born in 1945 while John was once again in the Pacific. Following the war they settled in the Oakland area until 1952 when John found a teaching position in Long Beach, CA. They made the move south with Malcolm & Mary Kim who was then 6 weeks old, and spent the next 25 years in Orange County. Karen was traveling with her grandparents and joined them later. They moved to Grants Pass, Oregon immediately after retirement fulfilling a dream to live by the Rogue River. During the years of her marriage she worked as a social worker and juvenile probation officer in Alameda County, CA. After obtaining a teaching credential she worked in the Garden Grove School District as a teacher, Child Welfare and Attendance Coordinator (Truant Officer!) and K-6 principal for 20 years. She retired in 1977. Prior to the move to Oregon they had bought property on Chinook Park Lane along the Rogue River. First they designed and built a house and then came classes at RCC. She had never had any art classes in earlier schooling and began taking every course available. Drawing and painting in watercolor and pastels became her focus, but she continued old interests in sewing, decorating, gardening and politics. She was active in the Josephine County Artists Assn, Women Artists of the Cascade Mountains (hosting a WACM gathering just last June), AAUW and the Grants Pass Art Museum. She started a chapter of Alliance for the Mentally Ill in Grants Pass. She was a member of Audubon and Three Rivers Hospital Foundation. In addition to children Karen, Malcolm and Kim, survivors include grandchildren Jeffery Janssen, Megan Enloe and great grandchildren Rosemary and William Enloe. Interment will be at Eagle Point Cemetery where John's grave is located. He died in November, 2000. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Asante Foundation to support The McKillop Behavioral Health Endowment. Asante Foundation Three Rivers Community Hospital 500 SW Ramsey Grants Pass, OR 97527

Service Information

Sunday, September 25th, 2011 3:00pm, Mrs. McKillop's Home

Interment Details

Eagle Point National Cemetery