McLaughlin, Margaret Ellen Cheney

Margaret Ellen Cheney McLaughlin, 78, died Saturday, Dec. 21, 2013, at Hiawatha Care Center. Funeral Mass: 10 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 28, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Marion. Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Murdoch Funeral Home & Cremation Center in Marion. Burial: Mount Calvary Cemetery in Cedar Rapids.

Survivors include her husband, Richard; three daughters, Cathy (Jim) McCreary of O'Fallon, Ill., Carol (John) Lawlis of Stevens Point, Wis. and Mary (Kevin) Kahl of Granger, Ind.; two sons, Mike (Stephanie) of Solon and John (Diana) of Marion; 17 grandchildren, Sarah, Joseph, Jacob and Grace McCreary of O'Fallon, Ill., Kirby, Jack, Shea, Delaney, Molly, Mason, Thomas and Tess Lawlis of Stevens Point, Wis., Sofia McLaughlin of Marion, Benjamin and Gabriel Kahl of Granger, Ind. and Noah and Ethan McLaughlin of Solon; and a brother, Harold Cheney Jr. of Martinsville, Ill.

She was preceded in death by her parents and a granddaughter, Elizabeth McCreary.

Margaret Ellen Cheney was born March 29, 1935, in Little Falls, N.Y., to Harold and Helen (Scannell) Cheney. She graduated from St. Mary's Academy in Little Falls in 1952. She moved to Cedar Rapids in 1958. Margaret married Richard McLaughlin in Cedar Rapids in 1963.

Margaret stayed at home with her children during their school years, returning to work outside the home in 1985. She held jobs at B. Dalton Booksellers in Lindale Plaza, Parsons Technology and finally at Theatre Cedar Rapids. She enjoyed her children and was an avid reader. She loved the theater and all of the people she met in that capacity.

Memorials may be directed to Shriners Children's Hospital in memory of Margaret.

Please sign the online guest book for Margaret at under obituaries.

Published in The Gazette Dec. 24, 2013.