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Margaret Kendall Arragon Labadie ’43

Margaret Kendall Arragon Labadie ’43, 2006, November 13, in Portland, from cancer. Margaret received a BA from Reed in mathematics, and left Portland the day after graduation, spending three years as statistician P-1 and P-2 in Washington, D.C., Boston, and Bethesda, Maryland, with the U.S. Weather Bureau and the U.S. Public Health Service. In 1946, she married James H. Labadie ’43, and the couple moved to Chicago, where they lived for 13 years. In 1949, she earned an MBA from the University of Chicago in statistics. In 1959, the family, including sons Marc A. Labadie ’69 and Matthew Labadie ’72, moved to Winnetka, Illinois, where Margaret managed the New Trier Federal Credit Union. She also was a graduate of the CUNA (Credit Union National Association) School for Credit Union Personnel (CUNA Management School) in Madison, Wisconsin, and served as treasurer of various nonprofit corporations. She returned to Portland in 1987. Margaret described her avocations as attending theatre, opera, and dance performances; competing in sports car rallies; traveling; and collecting contemporary art. “My greatest passion,” she wrote in 1993, “has been dedicated to fighting for peace, justice, equal opportunity, civil rights, and to protesting against war, racism, homophobia, and the reactionary drifts in this country.” Her sister, Mary Arragon Spaeth ’53, also graduated from Reed, and their father, Rex Arragon, Richard F. Scholz Professor of History emeritus, taught at Reed from 1923 to 1962, and is generally acknowledged as the founding father of the Reed humanities program. James died in 1986.

Appeared in Reed magazine: February 2007

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