Margaret Kruse

Margaret "Maggie" Cullen Kruse, 91, of Jackson died Monday, Dec. 12, 2016, at Saint Francis Medical Center in Cape Girardeau.

She was born July 22, 1925, in Higginsville, Missouri, to Alfred and Hazel George Schultze. She married C.R. Gillilan in 1947 in Higginsville, and that marriage resulted in two children, Kim and Randy. C.R. passed away in 1963 and Randy in 2014. She later married John Kenneth Kruse on June 28, 1969, at Hutchinson, Kansas.

After high school, she went to Kansas City General Nursing School and became a nurse by the way of the Cadet Program that was offered during World War II. Her nursing career began in Rolla, Missouri, and then Warrensburg, Missouri, where she worked labor and delivery in both places. She moved to Hutchinson in 1955, where she continued her career in labor and delivery as a charge nurse. Years later, she became nursing supervisor of pediatrics, postpartum, nursery and gynecological surgeries. Shortly before her retirement in 1985, she received the "Nurse of the Year" award from the Kansas Chapter of the Nurses Association American College of OB/GYN.

She was a member of New McKendree Methodist Church in Jackson.

Survivors include her husband, John Kenneth Kruse of Jackson; a daughter, Kim (Randy) Webster of Gordonville; granddaughters, Mollie (Bryan) Austin of Jackson and Megan (Seth) Fortenberry of Waco, Texas; and great-grandchildren, Cooper, Caroline, Allyson and Aubree.

She was preceded in death by her parents; first husband, C.R. Gillilan; and her son, Randy.

A memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Sunday at New McKendree Methodist Church, with the Rev. Jimmie Corbin and David Israel officiating.

Memorial contributions may be given to the music department at the church, as she so dearly loved the vocal choir as well as the bell choir.

Online condolences may be made at www.fordandsonsfuneralhome.com.

Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.