Margaret Larue Shickley

Margaret Storms Shickley, of Westminster, Colorado, passed away at age 88 on September 5, 2026. She was born March 11, 1938, in East Franklin Township, Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, as Margaret LaRue Fry, the oldest child of Oscar Henry and Ella Margaret (Titus) Fry.

Margaret graduated from Kittanning High School in Pennsylvania, and then was the first of her family to attend university, graduating from Eastern Baptist College (now Eastern University) in St. Davids, PA. At Eastern, Margaret met her first husband, Roger Storms (now deceased). For many years, Margaret and Roger lived in Lee, Maine, where Margaret was a homemaker but also started a summer reading library, taught piano lessons, and served as organist for the Lee Baptist Church.

In 1978, Margaret and Roger moved to Colorado, where Margaret taught home economics at Beth Eden Baptist School in Wheat Ridge and worked as an office secretary for the National Prohibition Party and Colorado Right to Life.

After being widowed, Margaret moved back to Pennsylvania, where she attended Saint Paul Church of Rural Valley, PA, and started a church choir. Margaret found work as a librarian at Manahath School of Theology in Hollidaysburg, PA. She continued to be involved with church music ministries, attending, singing and playing piano at the Evangelical Methodist Church of Altoona, PA.

At age 50, Margaret returned to school at Clarion University of Pennsylvania and earned a Master of Library Science. Following this, Margaret was hired as head cataloging librarian at Lancaster Bible College in Lancaster, PA, where she worked until her retirement. In Lancaster County, Margaret attended Mount Calvary Church of Elizabethtown, PA, where she met her second husband, Nelson Shickley (also deceased). Nelson and Margaret enjoyed going out to dinner, attending theater, and playing music together, she on the piano and he on trombone.

After Nelson’s death in 2006, Margaret moved back to Colorado and resided at Covenant Living of Colorado, where she served on the music committee, sang in the choir, and was a pianist for religious services. During her time at Covenant Living, Margaret survived breast cancer and became an avid cross-stitcher.

Margaret is survived by three siblings, Norma Knight of Orlando, FL, Oscar Harvey Fry of Ford City, PA, and Esther Corbett of Elderton, PA; two children, Ethel Storms Swartley of Highlands Ranch, CO, and Eric Malcolm Storms of Brunswick, ME; three stepchildren, Nelson Shickley of Lewes, DE, Brenda Rutter of Middletown, PA, and Judy Kulish of Columbia, PA; and two grandchildren, Margaret Anne Swartley of Lakewood, CO, and Charis Beth Swartley of Brooklyn, NY. She was predeceased by her parents, her husbands, her brother William Henry Fry of Indiana, PA, and a stepdaughter, Linda Swift, of Hebron, PA.

A memorial to Margaret’s life will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 19, 2026, at Covenant Living of Colorado’s Smith Hall, 9351 Yarrow Street in Westminster. Margaret will be buried next to her first husband at Pingree Cemetery in Parkman, Maine, where a short service will be held on Friday, September 25 at 1:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to Covenant Living of Colorado’s Benevolent Care Fund, which supported Margaret generously in her later years.