December 14, 1897 was a wonderful day for the political future of America. A child was born to Carrie and George Chase by the name of Margaret in the town of Skowhegan, Maine. Her full name was Margaret Madeline Chase. This was their first child out of a total 6. Margaret had 2 sisters, Evelyn and Laura, and three brothers, but, unfortunately only one lived and that was Wilbur. The others died very young from diseases. Carrie worked at a local store, at a shoe factory, and occasionally as a waitress in the Coburn Hotel. George was a barber and made very little money. He did make enough to put food on the table though.
They lived in their grandfather's house, a little blue house on North Avenue in Skowhegan, Maine.
Margaret's best friend was Pauline Bragg whom she would take with her to the corner store to buy their favorite candy, chocolate coconut marshmallows. This was one of her fondest childhood memories.
Some of her favorite things to do throughout the year were hanging May baskets, decorating the Christmas tree, and playing basketball.
Her first job was at Green Brothers 5 and 10 cents store when she was 13. About a year before she tried to apply for a job there, but she was so small that she couldn’t reach the shelves! Every day from then on she would go to the store and measure herself up to the shelves until she was tall enough. The manager said that he liked her determination and gave her the job.
She attended Skowhegan High School and led her basketball team to victory 4 years in a row. When she graduated, she dreamed of becoming a basketball coach because that is what she loved to do, and since her family wasn’t very wealthy, she knew that they would not be able to send her to college. At the time, being a coach or even a teacher only required a high school degree. In 1916, she was a senior and with the help of a loan from her grandfather, John Murray, she went to Washington D.C. for a senior class trip and shook the hand of president Woodrow Wilson. It was then that she first climbed the steps to the capitol building.
After graduating, she had many different jobs. For a year she was a teacher in a one room school house, but after that year she said, "never again". After all, she didn’t even like arithmetic. Another year she worked for a newspaper called the Independent Reporter. She was also a switchboard operator for many years.
She became very interested in women's groups and started the Maine Business and Professional Club for women in 1923 and became the president in 1926.
During this period she was a switchboard operator and often times she would get calls from Congressman Clyde Smith. They became very good friends, and even though they were 22 years apart, they were wed on May 14, 1930.
Clyde Smith named Margaret his official secretary in 1937 and she worked for him until 1940 when a terrible thing happened. Clyde had a heart attack. He sent out a telegram stating that Dr. Dickens said he may not survive, and that if he died, he wanted Margaret to fill out the remainder of his term and to run for the reelection. A few hours after the telegram was sent out, Clyde had a second heart attack and died. He had his wife of 10 years by his side. April 7, 1940 was a day that Margaret will never ever forget.