Margaret J. Furness

Margaret Dunn Furness, a well known and accomplished artist, passed away at her home in Orleans, Massachusetts February 3, 2025. Peggy, 81, a long time resident of the Cape, loved living there. She said it reminded her of the beautiful Indiana dunes where she grew up.

Peggy graduated from Chesterton High School, Chesterton, Indiana in 1961 and attended Indiana University. She studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Peggy’s artistic drive spanned many art forms, including clothing design, block printing, copper etching, oil and acrylic painting. Her sisters remember that as a child, she was always drawing horses whenever she had a pencil or chalk in hand. Peggy moved to the Cape when she was 23 where she met her partner, attorney David Woods. He preceeded her in death and she missed his bright spirit every day. Peggy was active in the Eastham Painters Guild. Her favorite activity was painting the many marshes and inlets so prevalent on the Cape. She also excelled in portraiture, capturing people engaged in the fishing industry and many other activities around the water.

She is survived by her sisters, Gail Dunn Bergeron in Washington state and Darlene Dunn Stauffer in North Carolina and many nephews and nieces.