THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 16, 1994 TAG: 9412140153
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Ida Kay's Portsmouth
SOURCE: Ida Kay Jordan
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
On the way home from work, the 78-year-old stopped at the grocery store on Twin Pines Road to get a quart of milk and a box of cereal.
Dressed in a new brown suit she had worn to the Woman's Club luncheon that day and wearing her pocketbook over her shoulder, she headed for the store's front door about 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2.
A guy on a bicycle came from between two cars and grabbed for her purse. When he failed to ride away with her shoulder bag, he got off the bike and knocked her to the ground.
When help started toward her, the assailant ran.
Margaret Teele lay on the parking lot pavement with a broken right hip, a broken right shoulder and lacerations on her face.
Eight days later, Margaret Teele died.
``He killed her,'' said Rachel Benzie, owner of the real estate firm where Teele had worked for 25 years. ``Whatever actually happened to cause her to stop breathing, he killed her.''
Teele was taken to Maryview Medical Center. Doctors put a pin and a plate in her shattered hip. On Dec. 7, doctors sent her to Bon Secours nursing home for physical therapy.
``She was doing very well with the therapy,'' Benzie said. ``She had a very positive attitude and was determined to overcome the injuries.''
Her doctors had scheduled her for X-rays on Monday to determine treatment for her crushed shoulder.
Benzie visited Teele twice Saturday.
``At 4 p.m., during my last visit, she was very bright,'' Benzie said. ``After she ate her evening meal, she called a nurse and said she was nauseated. Then she just stopped breathing.''
An autopsy determined the exact cause of death was a blood clot that resulted from the injuries.
Teele was angry about the incident, Benzie said. So are Benzie and a whole lot of others who knew and loved Teele.
Although 78, Teele was still going strong, working every day in the real estate business and involved in many community projects.
``She came to work in my office in 1969 and had worked in real estate every day since then,'' Benzie said.
Teele moved to Portsmouth in 1967 and tranferred her Woman's Club membership. Over the past 27 years, she has served a president and held every other office in the organization.
A 23-year member of the Child and Family Services Board organization, Teele also had volunteered at the Portsmouth Museums for more than 20 years. Not many occasions occurred at the 1846 Courthouse without Margaret Teele.
Her tenacity and devotion to activities she loved was remarkable. She had all the attributes of a busy person, including good health and good humor. She was concerned for her fellow human beings and was devoted to this city. I know, because she talked to me about the community whenever I saw her.
Because she cared so much, the incident in the Churchland grocery store parking lot probably made Margaret Teele not only angry but sad. She would not have wanted such senseless violence to occur anywhere, especially here.
Police upgraded the charge to homicide on Tuesday after receiving the autopsy report. So far, they have no suspects, and no witesses have come forward.
Apparently the police agree with her friends that, whatever the clinical cause, the attack killed Margaret Teele.
``It's tragic for a viable, active person to have her life end like this,'' Benzie said.
It would add to the tragedy for the assailant to get away with murder too. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Margaret Teele
Died after mugging
KEYWORDS: MURDER ASSAULT by CNB