The Life of Margretta

This reminiscence of Margretta Luff Agnostopulos covers her young life up to her marriage in 1939. Born during World War I when the Black Plague was circulating the globe and growing up during the Great Depression, as the only child of two career parents, her story resonates with today's children of full-time working parents who seek a better work/life integration. The Dutch name "Margretta" was first given in North America to a Mohawk woman named Otstock who married a Dutchman named Cornelis Antonissen Van Sieyck in the 1630s. As a family tradtion, Margretta has been handed down within the extendend family including the author's daughter, Jill Margretta. The author went on to raise four children, born between 1940 and 1948, and this book is dedicated to them and their children. It is a duty for each generation to record their own doings in order that those of the future may use them as a guide for emulation or avoidance. As Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis pointed out, "If you bungle raising your children, nothing else that you do matters much." She and the author spoke the truth.