(August 23, 1916-April 9, 2004)

CANTON--Funeral services for Margaret L. Pierce, 87, of 1225 County Route 35, Canton, will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at the Lawrence Funeral Home, Canton, with Rev. James M. Brand, pastor, Canton United Methodist Church, officiating. Burial will be in the Crary Mills Cemetery.

Calling hours will be held today from 4 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home.

Mrs. Pierce died Friday (April 9, 2004) at the United Helpers Canton Nursing Home, where she had been a patient since June, 2001.

She is survived by three sons and two daughters-in-law, Douglas S. and Patricia Pierce of Victor, N.Y.; Lee V. and Florence Pierce of Canton, and Benjamin J. Pierce of Mexico, N.Y.; a sister, Edra Pierce of Riverside, Calif.; six grandchildren; seven great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by a grandson, L. Steven Pierce in March, 1987; two brothers, Francis and John Briggs; two sisters, Mary and Pauline; and a daughter-in-law, Susan, in January 2002.

Mrs. Pierce was born Aug. 23, 1916 in Pierrepont, the daughter of Victor Ivan and Lillian Lydia Anderson Briggs. She graduated from Pierrepont Rural Schools and attended Potsdam High School.

She was married to Lee A. Pierce Feb. 22, 1936 in Potsdam. He predeceased her in November, 2000.

The couple lived in the Norwood area for many years, where she was a Girl Scout leader and a member of the Lyra Chapter 230, Order of the Eastern Star in Norwood. She worked from the mid 1950s until the early 1960s at the Potsdam P&C as a cashier. Mrs. Pierce and her husband moved to West Potsdam in 1967 building a home there.

She was an avid flower gardener.

(From the Sunday, April 11, 2004 edition of the Advance News, Ogdensburg, N.Y. page 3-B).

(Note: The Pierce family lived at 43 Elm Street, Norwood for many years. CBM).