Name: Margaret Brown
From: Washington
To: Grantsville
It takes a very good reason to pack up your belongings and move yourself to a completely different state, leaving all your friends and family behind. For Margaret Brown, that reason was true love.
Brown was living in Roswell, N.M., in 1967, with her husband when she met Warren and Edwina Archer. The friends kept in touch through Christmas cards as the Archers moved to Grantsville and Margaret and her husband moved to Washington.
Sadly, Brown's husband passed away in 2000. Three years later, Brown flew down to Utah to visit her daughter who was living in North Salt Lake at the time. She made plans to meet up with the Archers at a Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert during her visit, and that's when she met R.T. Brown. The Archers had brought their friend along to meet Margaret as both had lost their spouses.
After a long-distance relationship, Margaret agreed to marry R.T. and move to Grantsville.
"We figured we might as well stop being lonely," she joked.
Brown hardly has a complaint about her newfound home.
"I like Grantsville," she said. "I find that I'm related to many people and I've never felt like a stranger here. The people are very warm."
Brown said she's adapting to Utah's climate.
"I do miss the weather in Washington. The state of Washington averages 55 inches of rain every year," she said. "Grantsville is definitely a desert, but I'm getting used to the dry climate."
compiled by Natalie Tripp
If you're a newcomer or know of a newcomer who'd like to share the story of why they moved to Tooele County, please contact Sarah Miley at (435) 882-0050 or via e-mail at swest@tooeletranscript.com.