Margaret "Midge" Wholey

Born in Westchester County, NY, to Edith McGuire of Canada and Joseph V. Smith of Ireland, Midge was raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She received her BS in nursing from Catholic University in 1956, where she met her future husband, Joseph S. Wholey of Stillwater, RI. Midge and Joe had five children, Megan, Jane, Kathleen “Kate” (died in 2003), Skef, and Sarah. She served as a public health nurse in Boston for a year, ending with the birth of her first child. The couple moved to Arlington, Virginia, in 1962.

Midge was very active in the local community and volunteered on behalf of many local Independent and Democratic candidates, including her husband’s races for Arlington county board. She worked for the national Civil Rights movement and social justice by boycotting grapes, housing Vietnam protesters, and picketing Arlington Hospital against segregation. She sought a vibrant faith community including participation in the Catholic Interracial Council, Christian Family Movement, Nova Catholic Community, Cursillo, and the Ignatian Volunteer Corps, and was a parishioner for decades at Our Lady Queen of Peace.

Midge worked as a registered nurse for many years in the office of Dr. Charles Schehl, at Sibley Hospital and as both a nurse and medical director of Community of Hope, a charitable health care provider in Washington, DC. A lifetime learner, Midge earned her MS in nursing in 1987, again from Catholic University.

Midge and Joe were among four couples who founded the not-for-profit Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (APAH) in 1993, which now comprises over 2300 affordable rental units with another 400 under construction. In retirement, Midge produced and acted in a video on how to care for loved ones at home, with her good friend Gen Timpane.

Midge will be sorely missed by many. She is survived by her loving husband of 66 years, Joe, her sister and brother-in-law Edith “Tuty” and Bob Lockhart of San Francisco, her children, Megan, Jane, Skef and Sarah, her sons- and daughter-in law Rich Tepel, Brian Cubbage, Hilary Donovan, and her grandchildren Kristin Devine, Jessica Schipp, Maggie Schipp, Elias Cubbage, Erin Wholey, and Bridget Wholey.

A wake will be held Friday, March 17, from 3 to 5 pm at Murphy Funeral Home in Arlington, VA. The funeral mass will be held at Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, also in Arlington, at 11 am Saturday, March 18, preceded by visitation beginning at 10 am.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to APAH, Doctors without Borders, or Community of Hope.