Margaret Ann McInnis Verge

Happy 90th birthday, Margo!

“Life is the great teacher.” Much like Joyce’s creation, Margaret, known by most as “Margo,” was a versatile woman. Her life, like all the remarkable ones, took many twists and turns, but always with a strong bearing toward hearth and home. A teacher to everyone within earshot, there is little doubt she should be runner up for “the great teacher.” Or at least that’s what she’d have us believe. Her business card read “Advisor All Topics.” Her friends and family will miss all her unsolicited wisdom. A wisdom rooted firmly in that Irish virtue of being “placed here to help and to lift the spirits of others.” Irish through and through, Margo was born in Oakland, California to the famed McInnis-Costello clan. A family well known for their hospitality and quick wit. Qualities Margo carried with her across her life, shared throughout her loving marriage to Art Verge Sr., and passed along to their six children. Visitors to the Verge home constantly remarked how welcome they felt, despite the warm beer and stale crackers. They found there an understanding and accepting soul. Someone that balanced that unsolicited wisdom with empathy and a keen ear. She remembered names and events and was always more interested in others than herself. Margo believed that joy could be achieved in line at Starbucks, that meals were truly better if you appreciated them slowly, and that the Big Blue Bus and Taxi Taxi are the answer to the unrelenting stress of driving. She had the ability to find happiness in the simple things, but her joys were many and diverse: traveling and living overseas with the family; time spent with relatives and SMC and St. Monica’s friends; volunteering at the American Cancer Society Discovery Shop; being a tourist in her own city; going to the Aero movie theatre;

betting on ponies trained by Verge homesteader Doug O’Neill; and reading everything by her favorite writer, another beloved Verge homesteader, Chris Erskine. Her favorite haunt was “Margo’s Restaurant,” located on 16th and Montana in Santa Monica, where she met friends and made new ones and which now stands as a living tribute to her avoidance of homecooked meals.

Many wondered how she could possibly do it all. Dolled up with makeup, hat, gloves, a coffee in one hand and a newspaper in the other, six children in tow, and still she made time to chat with one and all. Somehow she also made time for the daily 8:00AM Mass at St. Monica’s, arriving by at least 8:09. Given her background as a teacher, she constantly advocated the benefits of furthering one’s education and was an unstoppable one-woman sales force for the California community college system. Laughter and family meant everything to her. She instilled in the “Verge Urchins” her three cornerstones of life: “Honesty, Kindness, and Humor.” Her final commandment to her children was one she preached throughout her life, “Always look for the good in others.” Then with that Irish twinkle in her eye she smiled and slowly added, “And never make a left-hand turn.” Margo was the cherished mother to Arthur Jr., Peter, Suzanne, Annette, Mark, and Patrick Verge. If you would like to honor her memory, a simple act of kindness would more than suffice. Please feel free to reach out to mark@thevergecompany. com for inquiries. Any and all stories or funny thoughts about her would be much appreciated as well.