Margaret Loud Wilson

FALMOUTH - Margaret Loud White Wilson, 97, of Falmouth Foreside, died peacefully Monday, June 26, 2017, at Falmouth by the Sea, where she had resided for several years. A service to celebrate Margaret’s life will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, August 25, 2017, at First Parish in Portland, 425 Congress Street, Portland, Maine. Born on March 15, 1920, in Portland, Margaret was the daughter of Ernest Miller and Hilda Constance Loud White. She attended public schools in Portland and summered at Falmouth Foreside. Margaret loved the coast of Maine with its blue sky, boats, tides and flowers. "Oh, I see some blue sky!" she would exclaim on catching a glimpse of blue in the gray overcast. An avid sailor in her youth, she enjoyed skippering the family sailboats, the Gypsy and the Skidart, with her father and brothers. Later, she enjoyed outings with her brother John W.L. White and his wife, Molly, on the Mollymauk and other boats. Margaret was a proud alumna of Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, Class of 1943. A skier and an "athlete supreme" according to her yearbook, she was a member of Skidmore’s outing club and made lifelong friends there. After graduating from Skidmore with a degree in economics, Margaret moved to New York City to work for Morgan Guaranty Trust Company. While living at Trinity House on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights, she met LeRoy Brinkerhoff Wilson of Des Moines, Iowa, a Navy man assigned to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. One evening, on the front steps of Trinity House, Roy asked Margaret for her hand in marriage. As he recounted at their 50th wedding anniversary, she famously said, "I'll think about it." She did think about it (for several days), finally said yes, and after Roy returned from serving in the Pacific, the couple were married at Falmouth Foreside on Aug. 24, 1946, by the Rev. Elizabeth Pettingill. The newlyweds then moved to Evanston, Ill., where Roy worked for Illinois Bell Telephone in Chicago for 39 years. The family returned to Maine many summers to visit Grampa and Nana White at Falmouth Foreside and to vacation near Bethel Point in Quahog Bay. Many family reunions and vacations were also spent at Philbrook Farm Inn in Shelburne, New Hampshire. Margaret and Roy celebrated their 50th anniversary in 1996 at Philbrook Farm, which also hosted both the honeymoon and 50th anniversary of Margaret's parents. Margaret was a third-generation member of First Parish Church of Portland, which her family attended when she was growing up and to which she returned when she and Roy moved back to Maine. Margaret, her brothers and father participated in early Christmas pageants at First Parish. Margaret's good nature and twinkly-eyed smile brightened the days of all who knew her. She saw the good in everything, and encouraged others to do the same. Her eyes were sharp and she'd exclaim, "Oh, look at that flower!" or "Oh, see the bird!” Her keen sight was a gift that compensated for her poor hearing in her later years. Even as the hearing loss made conversation difficult, she tried mightily to keep up on the lives of her children, grandchildren, relatives and friends.

Margaret is survived by her daughters Anne Wilson-Dooley and husband, Jeff, of Aurora, Illinois, and Jane Margaret Ritter and husband, Malcolm, of New York City. She is also survived by grandchildren Sarah Dooley Sebby and husband, Jon, of San Diego, CA, James Dooley and girlfriend Laura Gambol of San Rafael, CA, Carol Corwell and husband, Andrew, of Marysville, WA, Matthew Ritter and wife, Meredith, of Newton, Mass., and Scott Ritter and girlfriend Madeline Boardman of Brooklyn, NY.; three great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews in Maine, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C., and on the west coast.

She was preceded in death by her husband and by her brothers, Richard White and John W.L. White, and by her sister-in-law, Molly White.

Her family is grateful to our extended family and friends and to the wonderfully supportive staff of Foreside Harbor and Falmouth by the Sea who loved Margaret and became part of her family in her last 11 years.

We have been blessed to share Margaret's Maine, in which family, friends and community are the anchors of life, where she knew her neighbors on the Foreside, and where she also knew the locations in her garden of even the small spring flowers transplanted 40 years earlier. Riding along Rte. 88, Mom would say at Mill Creek, "I just have to see what the tide is." She'd comment that high tide was the best for swimming off the float at Madokawando, but low tide was good, too--for walking on the beach and looking for shells. It was a blessing to have known Maine through her eyes.

A service to celebrate Margaret’s life will be held at 10 a.m., Friday, August 25, 2017, at First Parish in Portland, 425 Congress Street, Portland, Maine.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the First Parish Church, 425 Congress St., Portland, 04104 or to Falmouth Memorial Library, 5 Lunt Road, Falmouth Maine 04105.

Please visit www.jonesrichandbarnes.com to sign Margaret’s online guest book.