Louise M. Magill

Praise the Lord for blessing us all with Louise Marie Magill. Born on January 28, 1981, and leaving the Crawford County Memorial Hospital with beautiful large snowflakes falling, to attend her first outing, a birthday party. Louise Marie, named after her Grandmother Lincoln, Phyllis Louise, and her paternal grandmother, Marie Magill, had big blue eyes dominating her baby face. She was baptized as a child of God at St. John on March 1, 1981, wearing an heirloom gown shared by many family members before her. She was confirmed into the faith May 2, 1995. Her entire life was spent surrounded by the love of her parents, two brothers and her sister, their spouses and children, her grandparents, all of her aunts and uncles, cousins and their children, and countless friends.
Her idyllic childhood was spent exploring the farm, often in cowboy boots and nightgowns, helping with sow chores and saving runts, hours in the tree house her dad built, making mud pies and drinking generic strawberry soda and eating “worm” riced potatoes at Hedwig’s, playing with friends, shooting fireworks on her mom and dad’s Fourth of July anniversary, hunting annually for Easter eggs at a family friend’s, enjoying the land of make believe, “letting the sun heal her,” dressing up and pretending. Even as a small child, she had her own sense of style and was finicky about comfort. She loved anything miniature such as her tiny Bible and mini Pound Puppies.
She liked the yearly treks to cut the family Christmas tree at Hoesing’s Tree farm, family vacations (especially camping and skiing), and the yearly extended family reunions. With her beautiful long fingers, she learned to play the piano and clarinet and excelled academically while participating in nearly all extracurricular activities through her entire years at Charter Oak-Ute. She was a catcher on the softball team and a life guard at the pool, and cared for her bucket bottle calves and her budgies Chartreuse and Periwinkle. She liked creative cooking and pie baking and 4-H where she and her best friend would write Share-the Fun skits about Opal and Mabel including the final farewell filmed at Nelson’s Park in a canoe. She loved acting, portraying many memorable characters on stage such as Miss Hannigan in Annie and Fairy May in The Curious Savage, was nominated for All-State and was a Donna Reed scholarship winner in improvisational acting, attended classes at Second City in Chicago and a film school in Los Angeles. After graduating with the Charter Oak-Ute Class of 1999, this interest led her to Macalester College where she studied communication and theatre, meeting the rigorous academic requirements, graduating in 2003. While there, she enjoyed working at the St. Paul Apollo Resource Center for the mentally challenged and teaching at a school for the Hmong people, and being a teacher’s assistant to a professor. She oftentimes remarked, “No matter what, you can never take away my education.”
She ventured with her college roommates to Austin, Texas, where she worked at the University of Texas Co-op for more than ten years. Earning several certifications from the Texas food industry allowed her to cater at several Austin country clubs and the Convention Center. She reveled in exploring the funkiness of Austin and always knew the most authentic and hippest places to go. She enjoyed swimming regularly, especially outdoors at Barton Creek Springs, attending film festivals in Austin and Sundance and rock concerts and Formula One races, making religious pilgrimages to such places as Lourdes, France; Chimay, New Mexico; St. Thomas in India; and the Vatican in Rome as well as traveling to Kauai three times where she delighted in marine observation as she was a certified scuba diver.
Louise had a tender heart for anyone who experienced misfortune, especially animals and was a foster care volunteer for Austin Pets Alive! eventually adopting her cat Dinah. She was compassionate and a helper of the underprivileged. She was a free spirit who lived on a shoestring, saying, “Buy the best, forget the rest.”
She had a diverse group of friends who loved her, brightening their days with animation and humor, witty words, and a world view centered on the joys of life. With her uncanny memory for detail and her ability to read people well, she was a great storyteller who could make the mundane exciting and she could really make people laugh. She was fun-loving and authentic. She was unique, determined, and intuitive to other people and their needs which made her a very thoughtful and sweet woman. She was raised in Christian faith and she believed in Jesus and salvation, disseminating love and generosity, analyzing all, trying to love unconditionally, living with intensity. She was an extremely loving person, who made those she loved and those who loved her feel special. She was devoted to the people and causes she believed in and she loved her family, friends, and neighbors. Louise Marie Magill was a bright light, a blessing to all whom she met.
Dedicated to her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ forever and forevermore and to those whose lives she touched, she fulfilled God’s purpose. The victory has been won. Now she has the perfect home in heaven. Praise the Lord! Amen.
Survivors include: her parents, Bill and Lucia; one sister, Sophie and her husband John; two brothers, Gibson and his wife, Mary and James and his wife, Bri; nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Memorials and cards may be sent to St. John Lutheran Church, 104 Birch Avenue, Charter Oak, Iowa 51439