Miss Margaret and Miss Pearl

Miss Margaret Nugent, our longtime neighbor and family friend, died March 29, at the age of 93. She is survived by her sister, Miss Pearl, age 90. Neither ever married and they lived together in their family home near us in the country until they retired, at which time they moved into a nearby town. In recent years, they had spent part of their time in Nashville to be near family there. My cousin Areeda, who also lives in Nashville, had visited with the ladies on several occasions during the past few years.

Margaret Nugent, 1919-2012

Both were elementary school teachers at various schools within the county and many students loved these fine ladies. I never had either of them as my teacher, but my sister and cousins did.

Our families had ties going back many years. They were my grandmother’s, and then my parents’ nearby neighbors. I remember as a child, stopping by their house to ask them to buy the things students had to sell – magazine subscriptions, garden seeds and the like. They always bought something.

Miss Margaret, date of photo unknown. Looks to have been the 1950s

Miss Pearl and my mother were best friends throughout their school days. Mother remembers when she and two of her sisters, the Nugent girls and another friend formed a “club,” and met in a little outbuilding on the Nugents’ property. Like all sub-teen girls, Mother said they laughed and giggled and had the best of times – just being young girls who had nothing much else to do in the country.

Another tie our families had was my great-grandmother, Mrs. Caroline Howard, a widow for many years, married Miss Margaret and Miss Pearl’s grandfather, Mr. McMeans, a widower, in their older years. Several years ago Mother asked Miss Pearl if she knew the year they were married, she did, and provided it. Mother has that written down and I should have copied it, but I didn’t. It may have been in the 1920s or earlier. Apparently Mr. McMeans died a few short years after the marriage, and Grandma Carolina moved in with my grandmother and grandfather, and was already living there when my mother was born in 1921. Grandma Carolina died in 1942 or 1943.

The Nugent Homeplace

I attended Miss Margaret’s visitation at the funeral home yesterday. She remained a beautiful woman until the end. I know how much Miss Pearl is going to miss her.  The funeral program said it all “Family members: sister and best friend, Pearl Nugent."