Margaret Noyes Lang

Our beloved mother, Margaret Lang, moved to Heaven on September 14, 2024, carried on the arms of Jesus, the One who promises to be with us always, even to the end of time.

She is deeply missed by her daughter, Karin Liljestrand, her son, Norman Liljestrand, her daughter-in-law Anna, her grandchildren Aurora, Elizabeth, Rachel, Victoria, and Jeremiah, her nephews Andrew and Timothy Lang, and her niece Hillary Danaher. She was preceded in death by her brother, Richard Lang, on whose birthday she passed away.

Margie loved everyone. Growing up she adored her father, Norman Lang. She admired her mother, Elizabeth Lewis Lang. She followed everywhere her big brother. She loved her childhood friends in Evanston, Illinois. She enjoyed her father’s farm in Mississippi. She anticipated hearing the trains that brought her father home from business trips. She followed her brother to Brown University (Pembroke). Her friends there brought her great joy and laughter, staying good friends her whole life. She had wanted to be a teacher; then, at age 12, she got polio which paralyzed certain muscles. Her physical therapists helped her overcome and learn to walk again. So, she decided to become a PT. She relished her job and could not believe she was being paid to do something she enjoyed so much. She loved her clients whom she considered friends, and gathered them all in her small apartment in LA at her first job. She loved her nephews and always bemoaned she had not spent more time with them. Her niece Hillary had a most special connection to her, in the shared special place of growing up sitting on Pappa’s lap.

Especially Margie loved her children. They have memories of her working hard as a PT, coming home late. Their job was to have all chores and homework done, dinner eaten, and be all ready for bed, so that when she got home they could just be together. She gave words of affirmation, lots of hugs and engaging conversation. They sat one on each side of her, laughing and begging her to tell one more story. She could take almost any situation and make it into either a very funny story, or at least a very touching one. This gift of storying got her published several times in Chicken Soup for the Soul. Her children remember fun family trips with friends. She was a friend to their friends. They stayed at resorts on beaches owned by those they hardly knew just because they were so enamored of Margie’s outgoing personality and joy for living. She took them to Ossipee, a historic family home with no plumbing or electricity in New Hampshire. She had a way of making them appreciate hauling water from the well, cooking over a wood stove, lighting kerosene lamps, and snuggling under handmade quilts. She worked overtime to be able to take her kids to family reunions, cross country train rides, historic places, amusement parks. She sacrificed for her kids, enduring clothes with holes so her kids could have new clothes. She selflessly helped her kids reach their dreams. She loved beauty. One evening with her son at the Crystal Cathedral Christmas pageant, she saw one of the angels flying overhead and remarked about Norm marrying one of them. Her outgoing personality helped her son meet the beautiful worship dancer, Anna, whom he later married. Margie followed her children everywhere. Her daughter she followed to China for month. Her son she followed to California, Colorado, and finally North Carolina. She doted on Norm’s five gorgeous children. She invested in lots of great memories for them of cabins, sleepovers, fun places and parties. She was a fan of Norm’s worship leading and was often wherever he was leading with his piano. She bought him all his equipment and helped him launch his own ministry too.

Most of all, Margie loved God. She did not always love God. At Brown University she had been convinced there was no God. Then she got divorced at a time when this was rare. She had always thought herself a good person until then, but now she knew she wasn’t. In 1982 she saw a life transformed amazingly by the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, and was invited to church. The pastor did something he had never done, and never did again. The entire service was an altar call to come to Jesus. She responded. Her children saw her go from a weary, burdened single mom to someone full of joy doing cartwheels on the front lawn. She was in church every time the doors were open after that, loving with all her heart the God who loved her enough to die for her. She was a God chaser. This relationship with the Lord was very personal. God’s love she felt tangibly. She said it felt sometimes like oil pouring over her. Sometimes when things were difficult, God would comfort her with a personal dream or a vision. She sought the Lord with all her heart. One time while reading her Bible, she even got to see a glimpse of lavender color angels, which was a great comfort to her at a hard time. Her children remember the shock of seeing her walk in normal shoes after a big healing crusade, no longer needing her special shoes with metatarsal bars to walk. Because of God’s Love, she was tireless in evangelism, wanting the whole world to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. While still working hard as a PT she still found time to volunteer with many organizations. As the New England coordinator for Wheels for the World, one year she was awarded for gathering more wheelchairs to send to overseas than they had ever expected. After retirement her natural gift of teaching shown forth. She loved teaching children in particular. She was invited to Africa, Thailand, and Haiti to teach kids in schools about the Bible. She worked as a secretary for a missions pastor where she was able to coordinate help for children around the world. She taught children’s Sunday School as well as purity groups for teens in California. She started loads Good News Clubs in schools in Colorado. More recently in Florida and then again in North Carolina she taught adults in men’s and women’s rescue centers about the transformation they can experience by knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in her old age, she still volunteered as much as she could to tell others about the Lord, who transformed her life. One of her favorite books was Madame Guyon’s classic Experiencing the Depths of Jesus Christ. This she used to share with others how she had found a tangible, life transforming, relationship with the Lord.

Margie wanted everyone to know the amazing love of God that is like no other love. All it takes is faith. It is written, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” May all who read this choose faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and experience the width and length and height and depth of the Love of God, which surpasses knowledge. Amen.

The memorial service will be held at Harris Funeral Home in Kings Mountain, NC on October 19, 2024 at 2pm at Harris Funeral Home in Kings Mountain, NC. Afterwards all are invited to a short graveside service at Mountain Rest Cemetery in Kings Mountain, NC, followed by a reception at her home. The service will be recorded and posted on www.harrisfunerals.com.

In lieu of flowers, please send contributions to Cleveland County Rescue Mission in Shelby, NC, (https://clevelandcountyrescue.org/) where she volunteered right up to the time of her death.