Margaret Elizabeth Wade Strath

Margaret Elizabeth Wade Strath, 102, of Wakefield, formerly of Marblehead, passed away at the Sawtelle Family Hospice House in Reading on December 18, 2011. She was the wife of the late William R. Strath. Born in Marblehead on October 5, 1909, she was the daughter of the late Levi Clifford Wade II and Jane Roundy LeCraw Woodfin.

She was a graduate of Marblehead High School class of 1927. While in high school, she was the leading lady in various plays and a cheerleader for both the Saugus and Marblehead football teams. She attended English courses at Harvard College and law courses at Portia Law School, as well as some training in ceramics, china painting, and furniture refinishing.

Retired from her position as vice president of a privately owned company, Mrs. Strath was formerly head bookkeeper in the Real Estate Department in a bank in Boston. During World War II, she was an air raid warden; she raised a K-9 army dog. She was a Notary Public. She was a member of the cast for five performances of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “HMS Pinafore” one of which was broadcast over a local radio station. She also served as a model in hairdressing shows held in Boston and New York; she won third prize at a Boston show. She has also volunteered her time to help problem children and adults, and to teach children in her neighborhood how to cook.

Mrs. Strath is a life member of the national society Magna Charta Dames and a charter member of the Speakers Citizen Task Force. Politically active, she was a member of the National Republican Senatorial Inner Circle, Republican National Committee, Speaker’s Citizen Task Force, Presidential Task Force and Congressional Committee, and Presidential Round Table. She was a national campaign advisor to the Republican Presidential Task Force.

Additionally , she was a member of the Colonial Order of the Crown for Descendants of Charlemagne, Descendants of William the Conqueror, Mayflower Descendants Society, Thomas Rogers Pilgrim Society, Women Descendants of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, Daughters of the American Revolution, Colonial Dames XVII Century, Hereditary Order of First Families of Massachusetts, Sons and Daughters of the First Settlers of Newbury (Massachusetts), Malden Historical Society, Peabody Essex Museum, Essex Society of Genealogists, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Order of the Eastern Star, State Women’s Club Choral Group, and the English Speaking Union of Boston. A sponsor for various events of the Scots Charitable Society, the oldest charitable society in the United States, Mrs. Strath has also chaired fundraising committees for church and civic organizations.

She has been the secretary of the Massachusetts Bird Club, a dog training club, and Mr. & Mrs. Church Group as well as a former hostess for the International Institute of Boston. For the International Bird Show held in Boston, she was a solicitor of ads and composed the program book. She was director of a Young Peoples Fellowship Group and a founder of a Junior Church Choir Group. Formerly vice president of the Women’s Republican Party of Melrose, she also served on the board of Needham Women’s Club and the Rainbow Girls Assembly. For thirty years she served as a church choir and Sunday school teacher.

She was Deputy Governor of the American Biographical Institute. The institute recorded her accomplishments in the seventh edition of Two Thousand Notable American Women, where she was also listed in the Hall of Fame. She received an award for Outstanding Professional Achievement, and was named Most Admired Woman of the Decade. She was named Woman of the year in 1993. She also received a Gold Record in honor of career excellence and outstanding contribution.

Other honors she has received include the display of her portrait in a Boston department store and twice being chosen Miss Marblehead. She received numerous prizes in ballroom dancing, and at the National Bird Club Show received a special prize for Monastery Garden. The International Biographical Centre gave Mrs. Strath a Twentieth Century Award of Achievement. Her biography appears in the World Who’s Who of Women, International Who’s Who of Intellectuals, International Directory of Distinguished Leadership, and Five Thousand Personalities of the World.

In recognition of her political service, Mrs. Strath received a Certificate of Merit from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and membership in the Republican Presidential Legion of Merit. As a member of the Presidential Round Table, she received a Special Honor Award Certificate and the Republican Majority Medal. Her name is engraved under President Ronald Wilson Reagan’s on the base of the Eternal Flame of Freedom in Washington, D.C.; this is the highest honor for a charter member of the National Republican Task Force.

Mrs. Strath is survived by her step-son, Robert Strath; five nieces and nephews, Phyllis Hurley, Martha Small, Roberta Haldane, Robert Wade, and Gilbert Wade and their families.

A memorial service will be held at the Dr. Arland A. Dirlam Chapel in Waterside Cemetery, 294 West Shore Drive, Marblehead on Wednesday, December 21 at 2PM. Burial to follow the service. Relatives and friends respectfully invited. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mrs. Strath’s memory to Sawtelle Family Hospice House, 607 North Avenue, Suite 17, Wakefield, MA 01880. Arrangements by the Eustis and Cornell Funeral Home, Marblehead.