Obituary of Margaret J. Tanner

Margaret Jean (Spaulding) Tanner was born on September 24th, 1934 to Reverend Clark E. Spaulding Sr. and Mary Helen (Pratt) Spaulding in Waynesfield, Ohio. She was the seventh of eight children, with her twin sister Mary arriving only a short time before her. While Margaret was growing up she lived in Waynesfield Ohio; Richmond, Ohio; and Lima, Ohio where she graduated from Central High School in 1952. After high school Margaret and her twin sister, Mary, moved to Cedarville, Ohio where she attended Cedarville College and earned a Master Bible Course Diploma in 1956. Over the course of the next nineteen years, Margaret’s career moved her back and forth between Ohio and La Junta, Colorado several times where she worked as an insurance underwriter, a secretary for a President of a college, and eventually landed a job as the head of medical records at the hospital in La Junta. Margaret enjoyed working and living with Mary in a home that they shared together until Mary got married. At that time, the sisters began praying for a husband for Margaret. Soon, life would change for her. In December 1975, at church, Margaret met a widower from Vona, Colorado named Daniel Forrest Tanner. That evening, they had dinner together at Mary’s home and soon discovered that they had many shared interests. After a short courtship, Margaret and Forrest were married on April 10, 1976. Margaret was transformed from a city girl to a farm girl, wife, and mother of three boys: Ken, Joel, and Arlan. Her new life was all very different to her, but she quickly learned the ‘ins’ and ‘outs’ of farm life. Early in her life, Margaret accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and spent the rest of her life in faithful devotion to Him, growing in His love. That same love spilled over into her home as Margaret selflessly cared, served, loved and tirelessly prayed for her family. She enjoyed her family, many friendships, bible study, crossword puzzles, reading, and dominoes. In 1994, Forrest and Margaret retired from farm life and moved into Vona. There, they enjoyed their growing family, retired life, and visits with special friends. After Forrest passed away, Margaret longed to be closer to her twin sister Mary again and moved back to La Junta where she would spend her final years. On Tuesday, January 24th, 2017, Margaret went home to be with her Lord and Savior. Surviving her are her three sons, Kenneth (Faye) of La Junta, CO, Joel (Jill) of Vona, CO and Arlan (Nichole) of Stratton, CO. Sisters Mary Spaid of La Junta, CO, Ester Stoops of North Carolina, and Betty Stocker of Indiana. Eleven grandchildren; Nickolas (Sabrina), Dana (Felicity), Kendra, Kaylynne Hainey (Eric), Dillon (Shelby), Nathan, LeAnn, Caleb, Emily, Daniel, and Micah. Two great-grandchildren, Kaedyn and Jameson. Proceeding her in death are her parents, Clark Sr. and Helen Spaulding. Husband, D. Forrest Tanner. Brothers, Clark Spaulding Jr. and Jim Spaulding, Sisters, Dorothy Stocker, and Helen Spaulding. In-laws, Bob Spaid, Jerry Stoops, Joe Stocker, Pat Spaulding, Dorothy and Leslie Tanner, Harold and Rose Pickard, George and Elsie Rasmussen, Ralph and Vivian Tanner.