In Ephesians 2:10, the Bible talks of believers who are created to do good works.
Margretta Patrice Cannon embodied the Scripture, serving as an entrepreneur, a caregiver and a community-minded volunteer with a heart for the less fortunate.
Cannon passed away Sept. 26 at age 74. Hers was a life well lived.
She was born June 9, 1951, in Georgetown, South Carolina, to William and Rose Jackson (Green). Margretta was the oldest daughter of eight siblings. The family lived across from a drive-in theater and the children watched movies from their front porch. “Gretta,” as she was lovingly known, attended Howard High School and played clarinet in the high school band.
Losing her father, “Pangee,” at just 5 years old deeply affected Margretta and her family. Her mother was left to care for five young ones. The children worked hard to help. As a teenager, Margretta and her brothers picked cotton to earn money. She also spent summers working alongside her mother in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, cleaning hotel rooms and assisting her grandmother, Helen Williams, at her beauty shop and candy store.
These early experiences set her on the path to become a business owner and community advocate.
Her mother later remarried Ben Green, an active member of the armed services. Members of the family moved to California in 1969, first relocating to Lompoc and later to Sacramento.
It was in Sacramento that Margretta married her “soulmate,” Mardeio Cannon, in 1998.
Together, they celebrated 27 years of marriage and a life of serving in ministry and traveling the world together.
“God sent me an angel and I’m blessed for it,” Mardeio Cannon said.
The couple shared trips to locales such as Spain, Paris, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Cancun, and Puerto Rico. They also made memories, traversing the globe with their close friend group of elders, Couples United.
As an entrepreneur, Margretta Cannon owned a gourmet cookie business, Gretta’s Homemade and Agape Family Care Home, which provided care for infants and school-age children. That business later was expanded through a collaboration with the Washington Adult School and Yolo High School in West Sacramento. Her after-school program supported both parent and child, providing parenting skills classes, helping single parents earn their GED or high school diploma and promoting literacy among those for whom English was a second language.
Margretta later co-founded Haven of Hope, City Within a City, with close friend Wonda Raymond. The program is designed to transition families and individuals from homelessness to economic stability through supportive services, social enterprise and life skills. Through Haven of Hope, she delivered coats to disadvantaged children thanks to an annual donation from Burlington.
Charles Stevens Jr., Transformation Church lead pastor, said Cannon was coordinating an emergency need for coats the last time he spoke with her.
“Even in her sickness, she was worried about someone else. That’s who she was,” Stevens said.
Family was equally important. Margretta and Mardeio Cannon took their immediate family on cruises and trips to Hawaii and Disneyland. Relatives gathered every Christmas at their home, where Margretta would warm their spirits, and stomachs, with her signature gumbo, a recipe dating to her Gullah Geechee roots.
Margretta Cannon ministered at Transformation Ministries and as an anointed speaker was invited to churches across the country. Closer to home, she faithfully served at several Sacramento-area churches, including Mt. Zion Baptist Church, Calvary Christian Center, Greater Faith Church, and Center of Praise Ministries, where she was an active member and leader for three decades. She led the church’s Prayer Intercessor Team at its former Rancho Cordova location. She also served as a deaconess with the Marriage Enrichment Ministry and co-facilitator with her husband on the Small Couples Omni Group.
Center of Praise’s founder and senior pastor, Bishop Parnell Lovelace, called her a “jewel” and a “true queen.”
“She served in pretty much every capacity,” Bishop Lovelace said of her spiritual commitment. “Whatever she could find her hands to do, she jumped right in and served. And she served well.”
Margretta has reunited with those who preceded her in death — father, William (Pangee) Jackson; mother, Rose Jackson Green; grandmother Helen Williams; brothers Earnest, John and Shelton Jackson; and sisters Nicole Newman Guy and Jennifer Jackson.
Remaining to cherish her memory are husband Mardeio Cannon; children LaKeshia Chambers, Jocelyn Chambers Brown (Andrew), Johnny Cannon, and Matthew Cannon; grandchildren Michaela White, Daizah Cannon, Julian Cannon, Devin Cannon, Jadyn Brown, and Jacen Cannon; great-granddaughter Naavah White; brothers Charles (Dutch) Deares and Michael Green; and a host of in-laws, nieces, nephews and close cousins.
Related