Margaret 'Peg' Hughes Fisher

Margaret H. Fisher (lovingly known as Peg), 98, of Raleigh, NC, passed away in her home at Whitaker Glen in Raleigh on October 9. Peg was born in Oklahoma City, OK on January 13, 1921, the eldest child of Stevens Hughes and Margaret D. Hughes. She was preceded in death by her parents and four siblings: Stevens Hughes, Jr. and wife Jean of Waynesboro, VA; Arthur Hughes and wife Natalie of Gladwyne, PA; Norman Hughes ( wife Helen Hughes is still with us) of Sumter, SC; and Dorothy Freitag and husband Dean of Cookeville, TN.

Peg attended Thomas Jefferson High School in Richmond, VA and graduated from Farmville State Teachers College, now Longwood University. Peg married Page Fisher in 1944, and worked for the California Highway Department in San Diego as part of the planning project for Interstate 5 while Page was serving in the US Navy. After the war, Page finished his college and graduate work at Harvard and later, NC State, with a period of engineering work in Baltimore. After they returned to Richmond Virginia, Peg briefly taught school. The family moved to Raleigh in 1956, and Peg and Page were divorced in

1971.

Peg’s passions were art, horticulture, volunteer work, and the beautiful beaches and mountains of North Carolina. She was a charter member of the Raleigh Fine Arts Society and enjoyed twelve years as a docent at the North Carolina Museum of Art and later as a volunteer. Peg was the first manager of the Capitol Area Visitor Center, NC Department of Cultural Resources, and worked there until retirement. She was a volunteer tour guide at the Governor’s Mansion during the administration of several Governors and loved the many schoolchildren she shepherded through the Mansion.

Over the years, Peg enjoyed showing slides of North Carolina wildflowers taken in her gardens and around the state. There are many wildflowers, azaleas, camellias, lady slippers, venus flytraps, and more around Raleigh that came from Peg’s well-known gardens that she gave away when she moved from East Park Drive and Leonard Street to ensure they would live on under the loving care of her many plant-loving friends. She enjoyed rigorous seasonal work on easter lilies, poinsettias, and chrysanthemums at

Carroll’s Greenhouses, and helped tend many exotic orchids from Thailand and around the world in her dear friend Gertrude Cox’s greenhouse located at Carroll’s. Later in life, Peg audited horticulture classes at NC State and volunteered at the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh. She was an avid shell collector, and spent many happy weekends beachcombing and fishing at Topsail Island with her dear friend and artist Lloyd Childers.

Peg attended Christ Episcopal Church for many years, with her volunteer work for Wake Relief being very important to her. She also spent time on the Altar Guild there.

Peg is survived by her son, John Fisher and wife Mary Byrd of Santa Barbara, CA, daughter Barbara Skliba and husband Vladimir Skliba of Mountain View, CA, four grandchildren, Caitlin Byrd-Fisher, Kyle Byrd-Fisher, Michal Skliba, and Vlasta Kristin Weddick and husband Matthew Weddick, great-granddaughter Casey Rae Weddick, and sister-in-law Helen Hughes of Sumter, SC. Peg leaves behind many beloved nieces and nephews and their families.

Funeral services will be held on November 16 at 11 am at Christ Church, 120 East Edenton Street, Raleigh, NC. Burial will follow in the Christ Church Memorial Garden. The family will receive friends after the service in the church parish hall.

In lieu of flowers, a contribution may be made to NC Arboretum or Wake Relief.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne, 300 Saint Mary's Street, Raleigh.