Margaret A. Chamberlain Papers

Margaret Ann Payne Thomas DeLashmit Chamberlain was born on December 16, 1923, in Claremore, Oklahoma. She married Jess B. Thomas on January 18, 1940, in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had three children, Paul M. Thomas, born December 16, 1944, Sherry Ellen Thomas Wetzbarger, born March 24, 1948, and Deborah Gayle Erin Thomas Williams, born November 24, 1949. She divorced Jess Thomas in 1953. She then married Floyd DeLashmit in Yuma, Arizona, and then later divorced him in California during the 1950's. They had no children. Lastly she had a common law marriage to Charles E. Chamberlain of Reno, Nevada, and then dissolved the relationship during the 1960's. This marriage also produced no children.

Margaret graduated from high school in Claremore, Oklahoma. Later in life, she went to Sawyers Business College in California, then to Glendale College of Law in Glendale, California, where she received her B.S.L. degree in 1972. Margaret then went to Van Norman/L.A. College of Law in Los Angeles, California, where she received her J.D. degree in 1973. She worked for the following firms in California: Robert L. Meyer, Attorney at Law, Los Angeles; Caidin, Kalman, Hartman & Sampson, Beverly Hills; and McKiernan, Blatt & May, A Law Corporation, Los Angeles. Margaret then worked for the next twelve years as an independent legal consultant in Sherman Oaks, California. She also resided for two years in Alexandria, Virginia, where she was active with the National Republican Party, the Senate and the White House. Margaret belonged to the following professional organizations: Nu Beta Epsilon, National Paralegal Association, the National Association of Female Executives, and the Southeast Texas Association of Legal Assistants.

After an earthquake destroyed her home in Northridge, California, in 1994, she moved to Beaumont, Texas, to live with her sister, Virginia Sue Reimers. In Beaumont, she retired from the legal profession and pursued her interests in antiques, collectible china, costume jewelry, and cosmetics. However, she still pursued her legal interests; most notable were her law suits against International House of Pancakes (IHOP), Social Security, and General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC). The GMAC case went to the Supreme Court of the United States. For a brief time she was Sales Associate for Pre-Paid Legal Insurance. Margaret sang with the Volunteer Voices, which is a group that went to area retirement centers and sang songs from the 1920's through the 1950's. Also, she partnered with David Worsham to have travelling sales for the residents of the area retirement homes. In Beaumont she also lived with Josephine Clark, Ruby Bardsley, Emma Ellis, and then at the Hotel Beaumont. Margaret's last act of litigation was against the Hotel Beaumont for wrongful eviction. The law suit never materialized as the Hotel Beaumont went bankrupt. Her health declined and she was put in care of Harbor Hospice, and subsequently died on November 24, 2011, at Jefferson Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, Beaumont. Margaret's ashes are interred at Haven of Rest Cemetery, Beaumont, Texas.