Margaret (Bohner) Townsend

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Biography

I am a third-generation Peorian, proud of my Midwestern heritage. A of 2018, I have moved 23 times and lived in six countries. My first international move was to Melbourne, Australia when Caterpillar transferred my dad (and family) to be part of the team to set up a Caterpillar subsidiary there. I have never stopped traveling!

I started Girl Scouting as a Brownie in Peoria, IL and flew up to Intermediate Girl Scouts just before our move to Melbourne. I quickly sought out the Girl Guides there and was a proud member of 2nd Surrey Hills Guide Company. We had 40 girls from 9-18. I remained in touch with my Captain (Leader) until 1989.

I attended Methodist Ladies' College (then celebrating 75 years), Fitchett House. I enjoyed piano and violin lessons, sang in the chorus, and played a Yorkshire maid in a Christmas pageant.

Returning to Peoria in 1959, I attended Peoria High School, playing in the orchestra, singing in the German Singers, and re-entered American culture. I graduated in 1963 and attended Denison University, Granville, Ohio from 1963-1967. I graduated with a B.A. in German, a second teaching field of English, with a grades 7-12 Teaching Certificate.

I married Thomas Dale Morgan at First Presbyterian Church on June 10, 1967. He finished his Summer School Teaching at the University of Illinois Law School and we moved to Arlington, Virginia. Tom served in the General Counsel of the USAF office in the Pentagon. I worked half time for Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois, Minority leader in the Senate.

I finished all the Provisional requirements to become an active member in the Jr. League of Washington, D.C. I was in the first group of women docents trained to give tours at the Air and Space Museum at The Smithsonian. Our first child was born at Andrews Air Force Base Hospital in November, 1969. We returned to Urbana seven weeks later and Tom returned to his career at the University of Illinois Law School.

Our second child was born in Urbana in 1973. I opted to stay at home, formed a play group with 3 other moms and enjoyed honing my skills in the kitchen, the garden, restoring an older home, and then, becoming a developer of a 20 acre section of a larger subdivision. I eventually became a ReaL Estate Broker with the G.R.I. designation.

Girl Scouting has been a continuous thread in my life: Senior Girl Scout, Juliette Awardee to Our Chalet in 1963, serving on local GS boards in Champaign, IL and Atlanta, GA; National Board member of GSUSA 1984-87, WAGGGS World Volunteer serving on Our Chalet Committee (Board) from 1981-1989. In 1990, I was selected to become Guider-in-Charge of Sangam World Center, WAGGGS, in Pune, India, for a three-year commitment.

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Sources

• First-hand information. Entered by Margaret Bohner at registration.