Woodland Daily Democrat (Woodland, California)
January 9, 1945 (Tuesday)

"MRS SUSAN MARY MAGILL, 88, YOLO COUNTY NATIVE, DIES

PARENTS WERE J H HARLANS

PIONEER DIVIDED TIME BETWEEN WOODLAND AND SANTA CRUZ HOME

Mrs. Susan Mary Magill, 88, native of Yolo county and well known here, died at 3 am today at the Woodland Clinic hospital after an illness of five month.

Mrs. Magill was the mother of Mrs. T. D. Cummins, wife of Supervisor Cummins, and Mrs. Grace Benteen of Berkeley and sister of J. L. Harland of Woodland and William Harlan of Santa Rosa.

HOME IN NOVEMBER
Supervisor and Mrs Cummins brought Mrs Magill to Woodland, from Santa Cruz, last November. For the past 50 years, the pioneer had been making her home in Santa Cruz. During the winter months, she would come to Woodland to enjoy a vacation with the Cummins family.

Mrs Magill was the daughter of the late Mr and Mrs Joseph H Harlan, pioneer Yoloans. She was born on the old Harlan ranch, southwest of Woodland. The Harlan home is now owned and occupied by Mr and Mrs Bernell Harlan.

DR MAGILL'S WIDOW
Widow of Dr Z T Magill of Winters, Mrs Magill spent the first 38 years of her life in Yolo county where she had scores of friends. She was educated in the Yolo county schools, and was an honor student at Hesperian college.

The J H Harlans always went to Santa Cruz during the summer months to escape the valley heat. Mrs Magill considered "Santa Cruz my other home." Mrs Magill would accompany her mother there and remain indefinitely.

Mrs Magill was an active member of the Christian church in Woodland, and later in Santa Cruz. She liked music and sang in the choir of both churches. Last September, Mrs Magill sang a solo in the Christian church at Santa Cruz and said it was "one of the happiest moments of my life."

Mrs Magill was proud of her home and family. Her Santa Cruz home was known as "Harlanda Lodge." During the summer months, hundreds of Santa Cruz vacationers would visit the lodge to see Mrs Magill's beautiful flowers. Her mums were considered the "very best" in Santa Cruz. She enjoyed showing visitors her gardens in which she grew all types of flowers. Each year, Santa Cruz newspapers would write up the "Harlanda Lodge" gardens, telling the success Mrs Magill had had in growing certain varieties of seaside flowers.

Mrs Magill believed in making the most of her time. Until stricken ill, she worked in her gardens every day. At night, she listened to the radio, read the newspapers and worked on her quilts. In recent years, she had made over 37 quilts for her daughters, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She was patriotic and gave generously to the service organizations.

HELPED NEEDY
Mrs Magill's friends will remember her as a kind and generous person. She liked to help those in need and always remembered less fortunate persons. Because of her friendly personality, her home was a meeting place for friends and acquaintances who always went away saying, "Mrs Magill is one of the finest friends we have."

The war was foremost in Mrs Magill's mind. She believed everyone had to make sacrifices for servicemen. Relatives recall how, she said, "Don't ever complain." Our boys at the front are making so many sacrifices while we at home don't know a war is going on. Give generously to the Red Cross and buy bonds. The home front can't let our boys down,"

LOYAL TO FDR
Less than two weeks ago, Mrs Magill told friends and relatives she hoped a speedy victory could be won in Europe. "I have gone through four wars," she said. "I hope this will be our last war to end all wars. Winning the peace is the most important victory of all." She was a Democrat, and loyal friend of President Roosevelt.

Besides her daughters, she is survived by five grandchildren. Major Fredrick Harry Benteen of Grass Valley, who recently returned from the South Pacific to become a patient at the De Witt hospital, near Auburn; Mrs William H Irwin of San Francisco, Mrs Frank L Morris, Jr of Ajo, Ariz, Mr Henrik Graeser of Santa Maria; and Seaman First Class Clare Cummins, WAVE, Pensacola, Fla.

Their are five great grandchildren.

The late Mrs Richard Brown, and Mrs S J Sills were sisters. Another brother was C B Harlan.

Funeral services will be held at 10 am Thursday at Kraft Brothers chapel with burial in Winters cemetery." END