Margaret Ann Harbick

Margaret Ann Crover was born in a small clinic in West Fir, Oregon, Lane County on January 11, 1949 to William and Elsie Crover. She was the 5th and final child born into the family in this Hines Lumber Company Town. Hard work was a core value that Margaret learned from her mother and the ability to make the best of every situation. It is said that the Crovers moved a total of 27 times, growing up, mostly in Linn County. A small herd of dairy cows also made most of those moves. None of the five Crover children would have been described as lazy. Margaret claimed many towns as her home: Oakridge, Lebanon, Fairview, Sweet Home, Grants Pass, Gaston, Sisters, Silverton, Mt Angel, Woodburn, Salem, and finally Spokane, Washington.

Margaret was the life of the family. Her older brother Donny would describe how she would entertain neighboring children in their living room. Margaret never missed out on a good time. By the time she was in high school, Margaret was essentially on her own due to her parents' situational poverty. She attended Laurelwood Academy, an Advantest Boarding School, thanks  to the kindness and giving of others, graduating in 1968. This is when Margaret first started to develop her spiritual faith which would continue with her the rest of her life and blossom and flourish as she aged. It is also where she learned to pay it forward. 

She married Roland D. Harbick on October 26th, 1968 and was married for ten years. She gave birth to four children. Sadly, her first born Susan Marie Harbick, did not live past infancy. Her three living children (Lisa, Simon, and Nancy) are a testament to Margaret's love and care and grit as she raised them as a single parent. Her children and her grandchildren were her joy and her proudest accomplishments. It can be said about Margaret that she valued people and relationships over things and material accumulation, and perhaps she had the meaning of life figured out better than the rest of us. 

She ran a successful house cleaning business for 30 years. Her clients loved her. She loved to help people, and would often come visit her brother Howard and help clean his home. She was bold and honest and would let you know if your cupboards needed a scrub down. She also loved being a public school bus driver both in Oregon and in Washington for 25 years. She was a no-nonsense driver. She was very adventurous and spent a decade of summers as a bus driver in Glacier National Park. Family, including siblings, children, grandchildren, nieces and great nephews, and many many friends visited her during those adventurous summers up north. One summer she lived in a campground and was very proud of her ingenuity to create a comforltable summer home living in tents and sleeping in her Toyota to protect her from the bears at night.  She was known as Margo to all her bus-driving-National-Park-friends. Everywhere she went people would shout out her name and wave. She knew everyone. She was warm and friendly, all were accepted by Margo, always.

Her children describe her as silly, fun-loving, courageous, unstoppable, determined, and boisterous. Everyone who knows her can close their eyes and hear her beautiful, bold laugh and voice. Family meant everything to her. She consistently visited older relatives, was a faithful attendee of the Crover Family Reunion, and called her sister Carolyn daily. When she got into the same room as her brother Wally, you weren’t sure who was going to talk more or be the loudest.

She loved all her grandchildren, and would give updates and show pictures of them to all the extended relatives. 

She would want to be remembered as:

1. A lover of Jesus

2. A good mother and grandmother

3. A loyal and giving friend

4. Someone who could do anything she put her mind to

5. Someone always up for the next adventure

Margaret never retired, but that seems very fitting. Margaret Ann Crover was a woman of faith who lived into each moment. Her faith in Jesus sustained her and comforted her in her last days. She lived as a lilly of the field or a sparrow, not worrying about tomorrow. She was surrounded by her children and her grandchildren, even insisting on a trip to Arizona to see friends just days before she went to be with Jesus. 

The greatest testament to whom she was, was in how her three children surrounded her and took care of her even in her last few months on earth. Each one wanted to savor as much time as they could with their mom. 

She joined her mother Elsie May Bates Crover and father William McPherson Crover and her older brother Donald Oren Crover in heaven along with numerous aunts, uncles, and dear friends. She is survived on this earth, living into a time she will not see, by her oldest daughter Lisa Ann (Harbick) Branham and husband Russell of Spokane, WA; Son Simon Duane Harbick and wife Dani of Curlew, WA and daughter Nancy Renee (Harbick) and David Wozny of Portland, OR. She also leaves grandchildren Jackson Branham (24), Lucille(22) Branham and Paul Miller, Millie Branham (18), Ruby Branham (16), Finnan Branham (8), Matilda Harbick (16), and twins, Elsie and Elinor Harbick (13).

A celebration of life will be held on May 2nd at 2 pm at Christ the Redeemer Church, 1523 W. Mallon, Spokane, Washington. A graveside service and burial will be held at Mountainview Memorial Gardens, 499 Watercrest Road, Forest Grove, Oregon, 97116, on June 29th at 2pm.  

In lieu of flowers please donate to The Union Gospel Mission, Post Office Box 4066, Spokane, WA 99220.