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Madge Lois Thomason Ebner peacefully joined her husband, son, parents, brother, and sister in heaven on December 30, 2021, at the age of 97.
She was born August 22, 1924, in Hurdle Mills, NC to John and Nannie (Linville) Thomason, joining older brother J.L. and, three years later, sister Clara. Her father was a hard-working man in saw milling. He harvested timber, loaded it onto horse-driven flatbed trucks and drove it to the mill, where he sawed timber logs into lumber for builders to use. Her mom was a housewife with a talent like no other for sewing, knitting, tatting, and crocheting.

In 1930, during the Depression, with work so difficult to find, and after hearing of a work opportunity in St. Mary's County Maryland, the Thomason family, hoping for a new beginning, moved to the banks of the Patuxent River in Mechanicsville, to work as farm tenants for the Coleman family. Madge happily remembered her first days of life at the new house. "Don't you kids play on the front porch, ya’ hear? The tides are coming" was a daily reminder from Mama. Madge couldn't wait to meet "the tides" imagining they were a new family to the area, too! But in fact, the house was so close to the river the water came to the edge of and sometimes underneath the porch twice a day. "It was sure different hearing the splash of the waves meeting the shore at the yard," she would often say.

Madge attended Trent Hall Elementary, a one-room school with seven grades, about twenty students total, and fondly remembers the school grounds covered with rhododendron bushes which the kids played amongst but, remarkably, didn't break any branches. Her teacher, Miss Mannly, taught her to read, such a thrill for her then and something she valued all of her life.

After two years at the Coleman farm the Thomasons moved to a farm called Bloomfield in the Seventh District. The homestead was good to the family. Madge had the usual farm chores: milking the cows, feeding the chickens and collecting the eggs, planting and stripping tobacco, washing dishes, cleaning the kerosene lamps, (no electricity!) and filling the refrigerator ice tray with water so it would freeze overnight and keep the icebox cold during the day. She helped with the laundry while her mama stirred the big black pot, the same pot that had belonged to her own mother.

For fun, Madge, J.L, and their friends went to Leonardtown to see the movies, to Old Gum baseball games and to the Wigwam for dances. They traveled to Washington, D.C. for the Washington Senators baseball games. No matter where Madge lived she cheered for the local teams. Her interest in baseball never wavered. Even in her later years, after the loss of her sight, she still watched the games on TV. Sitting close enough to the TV she could make out the dark or light jerseys so she knew whom to root for. One of her big thrills was spending her eighty-eighth birthday at a Tampa Bay Rays baseball game!

Madge, unfortunately, was not a swimmer. In the 1930's if you wore a bathing suit it was assumed you knew how to swim. While picnicking with the family at a public swimming spot on the river Madge was sometimes the target of misbehaving boys who threw unsuspecting girls into the river. Luckily, a reaching hand was always there to pull her to safety. As a persevering person all of her life Madge finally learned to swim at the age of seventy-five. The salt water of Florida's Gulf Coast provided the means to float. That, plus a lot of practice, made it stick.

Madge proudly collected stamps and postmarks during high school. Her hobby was judged first place in the MBHS 1940 Hobby Fair. She had pen pals from many states and different countries. She enjoyed learning customs and traditions from other areas. Her goal was to have a pen pal in every state. In her writing composition for the hobby fair, she wrote, "I have tried to get correspondents in a lot of foreign countries but because of the present situation I have only succeeded in getting two." (This was in the middle of WWII.) This practice of writing letters held true all of her life. She kept a daily journal, created a holiday letter to enclose with Christmas cards, and continued to compose letters and cards for high school friends, co-workers and family.

Madge loved to read her entire life. Every spare moment her nose was in a book, where she could be whisked away to anywhere. Books inspired her to become anything and to go anywhere she wanted. Her love of reading helped her sustain a solid ‘A’ average all through school. She always remained grateful to Miss Mannly for teaching her to read.

During this time of war, her father recalled the horrors he had endured in World War I, and knew he did not want his son to see the same. Her insightful father, knowing that farmers were not called to military duty, purchased the existing family farm in Avenue in 1942, happy not to have his son in the war. The Thomasons finally had electricity at this house but still no running water! Her father John and brother J.L. became successful tobacco farmers who were known for treating their farm hands as equals. Her mother Nannie worked as a seamstress for many women in the area, in addition to her house chores and farm work.

After graduating Margaret Brent High School in 1942, Madge took a civil service test for the US Government. She was given a wartime appointment in Washington, DC. She began her duties as an accounting clerk in the Reconstruction Finance Department and was an excellent employee as she received five promotions during her employment there from October 1942 to December 1946. She loved living in Washington with family friend Gladys Sager's family. Gladys' daughter, Catherine, and Madge had quite an arrangement for breakfast. "Our schedules were close enough that Catherine made the oatmeal for both of us and I washed the pan." The hustle and bustle of the big city was so exciting. "It was sure different than farm life". She quickly learned to navigate the city by streetcar and was happy to show visiting family and friends the sights and the better restaurants. Smorgasbords were the latest fad and restaurants would create smorgasbord wars amongst themselves. This was perfect for Madge as she "could try foods I'd never seen or tasted before".

Living in the country's capital during WWII meant the use of blackout curtains at night. It was mandated that if lights were on after dark you had to pull down the blackout curtains. One late afternoon Madge was reading in bed and fell asleep with the light on. She remembers being woken up and confronted by an air raid warden staring down at her, yelling, "Why aren't they pulled? This is the only light on in the whole city and it's yours!" To her embarrassment, the next day's Washington Post ran a headline,"Civil Service Girl Goes To Sleep.” "We all laughed about it” Madge said, “but I never did that again!"
In 1945, Mildred Flynn, one of Madge’s co-workers, had an invitation to an event neither of them could pass up. They attended The President's Birthday Ball and were able to speak with the first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. Madge recalled the night by saying,"She was really a beautiful woman who just couldn't have a good picture taken of her."

When WWII ended so did the RFC position. Encouraged by her supervisor, she transferred as a civilian employee with the Army in occupied Japan. One of only ten workers from the DC area heading to Okinawa in December 1946, she traveled across the country by train to San Francisco. Recalling it as if it were yesterday, she spoke of her time waiting in line to have her boarding papers processed for the sail the next day. A man approached her and introduced himself. "This man, who introduced himself as ‘his father,’ pointing to a man sitting nearby, asked me to share a Coca-Cola with ‘his son.’ “Well,” she replied, “if he wants me to join him why doesn't he ask me himself?” The man came over, introduced himself as Francis Ebner, and asked if she’d like a Coke. They made plans to have dinner together that night in the city. They read the Barbizon Room's menu posted outside the restaurant’s front door, and when they saw liver and onions on the menu they agreed this was the spot for dinner. That was our first date,” Madge said.

She and Fran and about two hundred others sailed to Okinawa the next day on the ship USAT General E.T. Collins. They celebrated both Christmas and New Year’s Eve 1946 during the two-week sail.
In Okinawa, Madge was an accounting and audit clerk in the finance office. Island life was daring and very different than it was at home. Women were housed in Quonset huts with six women to a hut. Strong storms and annual typhoons were inevitable. It was always a good idea to be accompanied by someone who could carry a gun!

Vowing that she would not leave Okinawa until she saw China, in January 1948, on a ten-day leave, adventurous Madge flew Northwest Orient Airlines to Shanghai, for some touring and shopping, for "souvenirs small enough to carry in a suitcase." Her first purchase was a four-piece set of luggage, followed by a jewelry chest, jewelry, carved trinkets, cloisonné items, silk and linen fabrics and clothes, all items that reflected Chinese culture.

A nice and easy courtship over the course of the two-year stay on the island led to Madge and Fran falling in love. In January 1949 they returned to the US and were married in Berkeley, CA.
The newlyweds returned to St. Mary's County where Madge's family welcomed Fran with open arms. Her father offered to build them a home on the farm but Fran wanted to return to his native upstate New York, or as he put it,"where the seasons are." Fran found work as a store manager with Loblaws supermarket and the couple settled in Rochester. Madge worked as a bookkeeper for the R.T. French Company. It was a short walk from home and as she got closer to work she enjoyed the smell of spices that were being ground. Vanilla was her favorite! Expecting a child in December 1950, under her doctor's suggestion, and routine for those days, Madge stopped work in October and waited (and waited) until February 1, 1951 for the birth of her first child, Karen. A family friend encouraged Fran to become a plumber and steamfitter apprentice and that he did. Working during the day and schooling at night for four years, Fran became a journeyman. Karen was joined by her brothers Mark in 1954 and Jeffrey in 1956.

The small postwar, Cape Cod-style tract house was getting tight for the growing family. It was time to move to the country. They chose to raise their family in Hilton, NY, agricultural and orchard land, and built a house in 1957, a quarter mile from the shore of Lake Ontario's Wautoma Beach.

Madge was a diligent homemaker and found time to rekindle her stamp and coin collecting and could complete the daily newspaper's crossword puzzle! Fran was a Local 13 Union Plumber and Steamfitter and had steady work all over western New York State. But living so remotely from town, and with the kid’s numerous appointments and errands, Madge and Fran decided it was time for Madge to learn to drive. Fran stepped up as driving instructor. Hours were spent practicing in the Vauxhall Victor learning the art of the clutch. With three active kids in the back seat she finally mastered it. So, at thirty-three years old she became a new driver.

In 1961 the couple purchased a farm that including nearly 500 cultivated blueberry bushes. This was not meant to be a new home but rather investment property. It became routine for them to buy old houses, renovate them, and resell them. This was the first of eighteen properties they "flipped" over the years. Weekends were a family affair for Madge, Fran, and the boys reconstructing the houses while Karen stayed home to clean house and bake. Two acres, including the blueberry bushes, were eventually divided from the property and the Ebners built a new, larger house for the family and sold five adjacent lots.
In 1968 Madge became employed as an assistant librarian specializing in audio and visual equipment for Hilton Central Schools. As a voracious reader, she loved working closely with the librarian, teachers and kids. Such a perfect job for a reader! She retired in 1980.

In 1982 the couple moved to Florida to begin their retirement years. Always the travel enthusiasts, these years included many road trips to visit Mama, Daddy and brother J.L. on the family farm, and their children in NYC (later CA), Rochester, and Texas. With Fran as driver and Madge as navigator they toured all around the country to visit the kids and longtime friends. They went to Richmond, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, Branson, Plains (GA), Savannah, Wilmington, Las Vegas, San Francisco, The Grand Canyon, San Antonio, St Augustine, and anyplace interesting in between. They took cruises to The Panama Canal, Hawaii, Alaska, New England and three different areas of Mexico. Frequent day trips to Busch Gardens Tampa were a benefit of living only thirty miles from there.

Madge joined the world of computer users in 2000. She was thrilled to discover how to send and receive emails from friends and family, or to search the Internet for a follow-up story to an interesting fact. Imagine learning this at the age of 76!

Unfortunately, Madge lost most of her vision due to macular degeneration and was declared legally blind in 2008. Despite this devastating disease, she made the best of it and didn’t complain. In fact, her easy going, roll-with-it, try anything attitude was one of Madge's lifelong attributes. Although she lost her vision she still enjoyed "reading" by listening to audio books. These books were a lifesaver for her. She encouraged those with low vision to check with the Library of Congress to become eligible for the free books‐on‐tape program. Living without sight would keep most people down, but not Madge. She found The Lighthouse for the Blind, in New Port Richey, Florida, an organization that provides services to people who have experienced vision impairment. Especially important to her was learning to travel safely, efficiently, and independently, using a cane. Her white cane became a symbol of her new identity, and a tool that helped her to continue to be active, including daily walks with the ladies in the neighborhood.

After Fran’s passing in 2011, Madge continued to live independently in Florida with the assistance of her granddaughter Gretchen. In 2015 Madge decided it was time to return to Southern Maryland where she still had many friends. She chose Cedar Lane assisted living in Leonardtown, then moved to The Hermitage in Solomons in 2017,where she thrived and made many friends. She still said thank you to everyone after a kind act. She retained the manners her mama taught her long ago. She smiled from ear to ear and her beautiful blues eyes still twinkled brightly.

Madge’s family gets together at the beautiful farm in Avenue as often as they can (but never often enough). Karen enjoys her retirement as the caretaker of the farm. Now the fifth-generation kids enjoy the space where their great-Nana and great-great grandparents lived. With the farmhouse filled with treasures from all the generations it's easy to remember who came ahead of them and the many memories attached to those valued items. They have fun making new memories too!
Madges’ husband Fran and her son Jeff passed away prior to Madge's death. She will be deeply missed by her children Karen and Mark (Sandy), granddaughters Gretchen, Katrina (Alan), and Ellen (Rodery), great-grandsons Connell, Ronin, and Corbin, and many cousins and friends.

Three children, three granddaughters, three great‐grandsons, and many cousins and friends are truly blessed to have had this remarkable woman in their lives, a woman they lovingly called Madge, Mom, or Nana.
Services and internment will be held at First Saints Church in Leonardtown, MD at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you support your local library’s efforts to expand their audiobook program or mail a donation to: National Library of Service (NLS) for the Blind and Print Disabled, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Avenue, SE, LM-613, Washington, D.C. 20540-9130, or to Lighthouse for the Visually Impaired and Blind, 9130 Ridge Road, New Point Richey, FL 34654.

The family will receive friends on Friday, June 24, 2022 from 11:30 to 12:30 in the Mattingley-Gardiner Funeral Home Leonardtown, MD. Where a funeral service will be held at 12:30 PM in the funeral home chapel. Interment will follow in First Saints Community Church Cemetery Leonardtown, MD.