It is with great sadness that the family of Margaret “Marge” Shade passed away on April 20, 2023 at the age of 99, just months before her 100th birthday.

Marge was born on July 4, 1923 in Eastland, Texas, the only child of parents Earl Ward Butler and Isabelle Heisso Butler. She attended El Paso High School until her family moved to Arizona in 1937, where she graduated from Clifton High School, where she attended the University of Arizona and Eastern Arizona College.

Marge married Karl Schede and founded Clifton’s Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company in 1952. The couple had three children, Karl, her Jr., Michael, and Susan. The family moved to Safford in 1964, where she continued the Southeastern Arizona Bottling Company. Here, Marge was her owner and CEO, and her whole family was hailed as workers in the business.

In her spare time, Marge has been a member of the Federation of Women’s Clubs of America since 1945, the Eastern Star since 1941, the Gila Valley Arts Council, the Friends of the Library, the Arizona Town Hall, the Graham County Historical Society, and the Greenlee County Historical Society. She is an American Legion Auxiliary, Safford Emblem Club, Mt. Graham Hospital Auxiliary, Mt. Graham Golf Association, Red Hats Society, Neighbors Farm & Family, House of Hope, First United Methodist Church. She also sponsored the Safford-Graham County Library’s Garden Party, the Mt. Graham Hospital Auxiliary Christmas House, the American Diabetes Association, Bike Ride Plus, and fundraising for Safford Downtown Merchants. She was named Woman of the Year by the Women’s Club of Safford from 1989 to 1990, won the Pepsi-Cola Community Leadership Award in 1989, Pepsi Bottler of the Year in 2018, and is an independent She ran the Pepsi-Cola franchise for 71 years.

Marge loved her family and friends and everything that had to do with them and their activities. She loves to travel and enjoyed traveling with her adoptive family. She was also adventurous, a trailblazer, and a unique, outgoing, generous, brilliant, and warm person. She was also bigger than her life and charismatic. Her favorite sayings are “Where you plant it, it grows”, “People do what they look for, not what they expect”, and “If you don’t care who gets credited, you can succeed.” was.

She leaves behind 8 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, 2 great-grandchildren and a daughter-in-law, Paula Schaade.

Marge was predeceased by her parents, Earl and Isabel Butler. Her children, Karl W. Shade, Michael E. Shade, Susan E. Shade Decker, and her great-grandson, Inara Shade.

She has requested her services, viewing/visit only at Caldwell Funeral Chapel, McDougal, buried in Safford Cemetery on Saturday 29th April 2023 from 10am to 12pm. Instead of flowers, families request donations to their desired home.

Click this link to view additional details about Margaret’s services, including available live streams. https://my.gather.app/remember/margaret-schade

Arranged under the direction of McDougal’s Caldwell Funeral Chapel & Gila Valley Crematory.