Margaret Ruth Stites

For a Dancer:

Margaret (Maggie) Ruth Stites, 74, of Lillian, Alabama made a peaceful exit from this world’s stage on October 15, 2026. Maggie always loved good music, great people, art, and a range of fashions. She will be remembered by all those who knew her for her kindness, compassion, intense determination always to be herself and, not least, her constant desire to dance.

Maggie made her first appearance as Margaret Ruth Comptonon April 27, 1952 and was welcomed by James Compton and Phoebe Compton née Ashburn. In 1957 her brother James Michael “Mike” joined them. The family spent much of Maggie’s early life in Syracuse, New York a place she loved dearly and that remained central to her sense of selfthroughout the rest of her life. During her senior year of high school the Compton family relocated to Illinois. There, Maggie would go to on graduate from nursing school, make lifelong friends and to meet Max Stites with whom she had her two children Max David and Gretchen. The young family relocated to Beverly, Massachusetts in 1985 and then Placentia, California in 1989. At each step, Maggie’s compassion and curiosity meant there were always friends around and fun to be had.

In 2006 Maggie met Bob Garceau while both were living in Carlsbad, California beginning a relationship that would remain a constant foundation for the rest of her life. In 2008 Maggie and Bob moved to Spanish Cove in Lillian, Alabama to care for her parents alongside her brother Mike who she still insisted on regularly referring to as “Pork Chop” in a way that only his big sister could get away with. As she always did, Maggie threw herself into the community around her and had soon established yet more interlocking circles of kindred spirits.

Over the remaining 18 years of the dance that was Maggie’s life she never failed to share the enthusiasm, excitement and intense passion for life that she had carried with her from her very first steps. During this time, she was joyful at the marriages of Max David to Helen in 2006 and Gretchen to Heather in 2015. She was even more ecstatic to “finally” welcome her grandchildren to the world: Jaymes and Jovie(the daughters of Gretchen and Heather) and then Hunter (son of Max David and Helen) were sources and recipients of their Grandma Maggie’s love and laughter.

Maggie leaves behind a much wider legacy of love, laughterand an intensity of living that remained undiminished if not unchanged for her entire life. Whether she was literallydancing to an old favourite on the stereo, or grooving to the music she could find in the simple joy of living she always made the steps her own. Then and now she reminded us that we should all dance more.

A celebration of Maggie’s life will be held beginning at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, October 26, 2026 at the Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Home in Lillian, Alabama. This will be followed by a gathering at Johnny B’s Front Porch. Memories will be shared, as well as friendship and possibly even some laughter. Dancing, however it is defined, is also highly likely to occur…

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation in Maggie’s honor to The Foley Art Center or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.