Good night Margaret - your life touched thousands.
LYNCH, MARGARET KATHRYN (WHYTE) – Born May 3, 1933; Died October 25, 2022.
Margaret Kathryn Whyte was born to Eugenia Springer Whyte and Dr. Kenneth Griffith Whyte at Doctor’s Hospital in Seattle, WA. Margaret lived her youth on north Capitol Hill in Seattle. The Ship Canal from Lake Washington to Lake Union out her bedroom window inspired her interconnected world view.
Margaret attended Seward Elementary – enjoying a tradition of Seward friends meeting for brunch for decades. Margaret attended St. Nicholas School – where her refinement suited the environment. Margaret graduated from Seattle’s Lincoln High School in 1951 – a modern prototype, ahead of her time. Margaret was Alpha Phi at the University of Washington, studying zoology – another inspiration for her interconnected world view.
Margaret interned at Boeing. She worked downtown at the Beaux Arts Seattle Trust and Savings Bank. As the downtown Seattle Nordstrom shoe store grew to national prominence in the 1950’s, Margaret was a shoe model – a perfect size five – leading to a lifetime of astute collecting. While at American Express, Margaret vacationed multiple times to pre-statehood Hawaii by Stratocruiser and ocean liner – once arriving from the port just in time for work. These adventures were her springboard to living her interconnected world view.
In the midst of that excitement, Patrick J. Lynch was one of the daring suitors. Pat was from Queen Anne – and all that meant – and Dr. Whyte had his own ideas for Margaret. But Pat persevered for seven years, and Margaret saw the wisdom of a genuine man who always did what he said he would do. Margaret and Pat married at Our Lady of the Lake in Seattle August 16, 1958 with a reception at Dr. Whyte’s Mercer Island home. Pat whisked Margaret off in an Alpha Romeo for a honeymoon in San Francisco, where she later earned a key to the Inner Jade Room for living her interconnected world view.
Margaret and Pat raised a family in Portland and Spokane as well as Priest Lake, Idaho. Each home was unique, and timelessly decorated. Margaret exposed her children to everything she knew life had to offer, including her interconnected world view.
Margaret and Pat traveled the world in multiple directions, sometimes on three-masted sailing yachts where Margaret could man a rope (or the button for the rope). Visit her photo gallery to see them in every time zone living joyously together with an interconnected world view.
Margaret was recognized for her global understanding as she rose to prominence in the democratic party. Margaret was elected Washington State Delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1996. She attended inaugurations for Presidents Clinton and Obama. Candid photographs show Margaret with Sen. Murray, Gov. Locke, Mayor Daley, and others explaining her interconnected world view.
Margaret lost her beloved Patrick J. in 2010, but for the next twelve years, she lived the life of a strong northwest woman. She was active in the Hood Canal Environmental Counsel and the League of Women Voters. Her Hood Canal home became a base for her continued world journeys. Margaret traveled by herself to all seven continents – including Antarctica – often on Tauk Educational Tours. This week, her four-year old great-grandson asked Margaret her favorite place in the world. Margaret’s response – from her assisted living bed – was not Carmel or Monte Carlo or Singapore or Buenos Aires or Queenstown or Cairo, but “Tangier, Morocco” which included fingers on a map and a story for the tot about her interconnected world view.
Margaret’s final 2022 trips on a boat from Seattle to Ft. Lauderdale and a limousine from Dubai to Abu Dhabi alas were cancelled when she was diagnosed in September with leukemia. Margaret passed away peacefully in her sleep October 25, 2022, where her desire to see her beloved Pat and their many friends commences her interconnected celestial view.
Margaret is survived by her children Jennifer Teising (John) and Christopher Lynch (Elizabeth); her grandchildren Remy Nixon, Morgan Rose Lynch, and Max Teising; as well as great-grandchildren Roland and Wallace Nixon. The entire family is grateful to St. Michael’s Cancer Center, Northwoods/Clearbrook Silverdale, Dr. Karl D. Hadley, and End of Life Washington. Margaret will be cremated and her ashes spread in her beloved Hood Canal and Priest Lake after a private service. In lieu of flowers, please make any donations to Fishline Food Bank and Comprehensive Services of Poulsbo, Washington, where Margaret was a benefactor.