Bossard, Margaret Alice GW

Margaret was born on 6 April 1914 in Ashtabula, Ohio to Guy E. Bossard and his wife Frances Allison, according to Miss Bossard’s application to the Gospel Worker Society. Margaret’s mother died when Margaret was two years old. In 1920 Guy Bossard and his five-year-old daughter “Alice” are living in a boarding house in Cleveland, Ohio. Guy is working as a fireman. The following year Guy married again, to widow Cecelia Breath. It appears that Margaret Alice did not live with them for the remainder of her childhood. In 1930 Alice shows up in Mercer County, Pa in the home of her uncle, John W Bossard, and grandmother Elizabeth Hohn. Five years later “Alice” is listed in the Greenville city directory with a different address from her uncle. In 1940, 26-year-old Alice is living with the Gilbert family in Meadville, Crawford County, Pa. She reports that she had eight years of formal education and is working as a maid in a private residence. In the 1950 census Margaret A. Bossard is a lodger with the James Barrows family in the same town, working as a maid in a hospital. Three years later, on 31 August 1953, she entered the Gospel Worker Society. She reports that she was converted at age 13 and had come to the GWS from Meadville, Pa. She worked at the Union Gospel Press until 1974 when she broke her hip. She then went to light duty. When she was sufficiently recovered, she worked as night patrol until the smoke, heat, and fire alarm system was installed. She then worked as a stock clerk and helped with the laundry when needed. She took care of the linens in the guest room. Margaret Alice Bossard died on 16 December 1985 and is buried in the Brooklyn Heights Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio, with other Gospel Workers.