100 Years To Live

I had the pleasure of knowing my great grandmother, Margaret Sophia (Archamboult) Archangeli for 25 years! There are not too many people who get to know their great grandparents that well and I feel so fortunate. Although we lived in different states, we would write each other often all the way up until after I got married. She was such a neat lady and I miss her very much.

I created this layout last year for a contest and it is a favorite of mine. It was inspired by the Five For Fighting song called 100 Years To Live. The journaling reads:

This picture was taken when Margaret was only 2 years old. She lived to be 102. It's amazing to think that when this picture was taken, Margaret still had 100 years to live. This beautiful little girl would grow up and see many joys as well as many sorrows. She wed Fred Archangeli in 1915 and they remained married for 42 years until his death in 1957. She never remarried and was a widow for 38 years. Margaret and Fred had 4 children; 2 daughters and 2 sons. Helen, their oldest daughter, passed away at age 15 of Leukemia. Margaret also outlived Lois who died at age 70 of Alzheimer's Disease and Bob, who passed away at age 80. She had 11 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandson. What an amazing life she led! I wonder if she would have changed a thing if she knew that she had ... 100 years to live ...

Credits: Gina Cabrera, Sarah Carling, Kristie David and Holly McCaig.