Margaret Cibulka

Margaret Cibulka, of Miller Place, New York, passed away Wednesday, September 10, 2025, at the age of 82. Born in New York, New York on July 18, 1943, she was the cherished daughter of the late Margaret Doscher (né Nielsen) and Klaus Doscher, Sr.

At the age of four Margaret’s family moved to Miller Place, New York to improve her father’s serious health issues. In Miller Place her family found the beauty, fresh air, and community integrity that would shape Margaret’s values and forge her life-long friendships.

Margaret attended Miller Place School and graduated from Port Jefferson High School, where she was an honors student. She later celebrated the quality and social diversity that her high-school education had afforded her. At Wagner College she pursued liberal studies, majoring in elementary education, while also attending the University of Vienna. After college she returned to Miller Place School for her first teaching assignment at the request of the school’s principal. She then ventured to the University of Chicago for graduate studies in educational psychology, where she met and in 1968 married her life partner Jim. While in Chicago she taught elementary school children at Oakenwald Elementary School and Harvard-St. George School, as well as adolescents at the Illinois State Psychiatric Institute. During these Chicago years Margaret was chosen by the National Institute of Mental Health to teach what was reported to be the nation’s first classroom for children with learning differences, located at Michael Reese Hospital. Following her and Jim’s move to Duluth, Minnesota she taught in that city’s impoverished central hillside neighborhood, participating in a research-based program conducted by the Far West Laboratory and federally-funded through the Model Cities Program. Over the next four decades new opportunities took her and Jim to Wisconsin, Maryland, Kentucky, and Washington, D.C.

After 7 years of teaching, Margaret entered a new career phase, embarking on a culinary career. She trained at the prestigious Cordon Bleu Cooking School in London and La Varenne in Paris, where she met Julia Child. Returning to her love of teaching, she became a chef-instructor at Milwaukee Area Technical College and taught future chefs for 16 years. Not wanting to remain “idle,” as she described it, she accepted an invitation by the Village of Shorewood, Wisconsin, a Milwaukee suburb, to take over a run-down historic landmark on the banks of the Milwaukee River. There she established her own fine-dining establishment, transforming Hubbard Lodge, a Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) building erected in the Great Depression, into a highly-respected venue for catering and dining. Hubbard Park Lodge was featured in Bon Appétit magazine. Margaret continued this endeavor for 26 years.

During these years, Margaret and Jim raised two children, Gregory, born in 1983, and Julia, born in 1989. Margaret was proud that both of their children are college graduates who are pursuing productive careers, and that they, like their parents, are committed to education and social justice.

After Jim’s retirement in 2015 they moved from Washington, D.C. to their home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, and in the following year returned to Margaret’s beloved Miller Place. In her remaining years, she devoted her energies to building a better community. Margaret was active in many projects, working with the Miller Place School District, the Miller Place-Mt. Sinai Historical Society, the Miller Place Academy Library, Coastal Steward Long Island, and Save the Sound, among others. She and Jim joined Mt. Sinai Congregational Church, where she became reacquainted with childhood friends. Her health permitting, she was particularly engaged in the church’s Island Heart Food Pantry, efforts to end gun violence, and other social justice initiatives. Her many commitments, and her prodigious energy in advancing her visions, were grounded in a love-of-place, a reverence for Miller Place and Mt. Sinai’s beautiful environment, and a passion for documenting their rich local histories. Among her daily activities was a walk on Cedar Beach, where she enlisted friends and neighbors to help maintain the beach as a pristine place free of litter and debris. Margaret carried an abiding faith, inspired by her family and roots, that her efforts, pursued collaboratively, could help shape a more accepting, equitable, and enlightened community.

Margaret was preceded in death by her parents Klaus and Margaret Doscher Sr. and her brother Klaus Doscher Jr.

She is survived by Jim, her husband of 57 years; daughter, Julia, of Alexandria, Virginia, son Gregory and granddaughter Aiyana, of Gwangju, South Korea; niece Lisl Phelps of Lewes, Delaware, and nephew Timothy Doscher, of Baltimore, Maryland. She is also survived by her black lab Pepper, the most recent beneficiary in a long list of canines who were part of the Cibulka household.

A memorial visitation will be held on Friday, October 3, 2025 from 4-7 pm at the O. B. Davis Funeral Home located at 1001 NY 25A, Miller Place, New York. Interment will be at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, October 4, 2025 at Sea View Cemetery, adjacent to Mr. Sinai Congregational Church, 233 N. Country Road, Mt. Sinai, New York. Following burial, a memorial service in celebration of Margaret’s life will be held at 11 a.m. at the church. A reception will follow in the church’s Voorhees Hall.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Mt. Sinai Congregational Church in Mt. Sinai, New York, the Miller Place (New York) Fire Department, Suffolk County SPCA (New York), Coastal Steward Long Island, Save the Sound, Everytown for Gun Safety, or the American Civil Liberties Union.

Margaret will be remembered as a devoted mother, loving wife, cherished friend, respected teacher, and committed leader in her community. In the words of a family friend, with her warmth and style, she was a truly gracious and elegant 20th century lady.