Biography: Mary Margaret Vail Trevathan, often called simply MM or Margaret, passed away on August 15, 2021, in her home in Little Rock from natural causes at the age of 98. She was born in Whapeton, North Dakota, in 1923. Her family owned the local telephone company in Milnor. She recalled working afternoons and weekends during high school as a telephone operator, when the switchboard was in the living room of the Vail family home. During those years her brothers traveled the county repairing the telephone lines. After attending university in Fargo, graduating with a degree in nutrition and dietetics, Margaret became a registered dietitian and began her career at a hospital in Pueblo, Colorado, where she met and married young physician Dr. Robert (Bob) Trevathan of Bruceton, Tennessee.
As Dr. Trevathan’s medical career carried them around the country, Margaret continued her work as a hospital dietician, specializing in dietary care for diabetics, and raising three sons and a daughter. The family lived in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, for several years, then in Germantown, Tennessee, where Bob was a staff physician at the Memphis VA Hospital, practicing internal medicine and psychiatry, and MM was an Elder and sang in the choir of the Germantown Presbyterian Church. While in Germantown MM became an active member of the P.E.O. Sisterhood, later recognized as a Golden Girl of P.E.O. Upon Bob’s retirement from the VA in 1975 they moved to Martin, Tennessee, to be closer to his mother in Bruceton. Dr. Trevathan became staff psychiatrist for the Weakley County mental health clinic, and Margaret served as consulting dietician for the local nursing home.
In Martin the Trevathans were members of Trinity Presbyterian Church, where Margaret served as an Elder and sang in the choir. She was also active with a weekly bridge club, a book club, and for many years was a driver for the local Meals on Wheels program bringing fresh meals to homebound elderly (even as she was in her 80s at the time). In the spring of 2019 Mary Margaret moved to Little Rock to live with her daughter’s family.
Preceding Mary Margaret in death were her parents, her brothers Charles, David and John Vail, husband Bob, son Thomas Trevathan, and granddaughter Kathryn Vail Shelton Welch. She is survived by sons James and Web Trevathan of Houston; daughter Kay Trevathan Shelton (D. Cragin), and granddaughter Sam Shelton of Little Rock; and grandson John Duncan Trevathan, USCG, (Joon) and great-granddaughter Mirabelle of Goosecreek, South Carolina.
Memorial service will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Martin, Tennessee at a later date. Memorial donations can be made to a charity of your choice or to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Martin.
I will never forget our high school lunches in Germantown with your gracious, intelligent mother!
Thank you for sharing your home and your family.
Wonderful memories.
Sincerely,
Anne Jones Weitzer