Margaret Stevenson

Peterborough, NH Margaret McDougall Stevenson, 88, died on May 18, 2016 at RiverMead in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Born in Boston on November 17, 1927, she was a daughter of Kenneth McDougall and Olive (Johnson) McDougall. Margaret with her sister Anne grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She attended Dana Hall School, graduated in 1949 from Smith College and was an enthusiastic believer in girls' and women's educationa€"seeking out fellow Smith alumnae and supporting the college all her life. As a girl Margaret served her country during World War II working on farms in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. After college she lived in Boston with a group of friends and worked at the Harvard Business School. During that period she met a young lawyer, Arthur Stevenson. They were married in 1956 and moved to Concord, Massachusetts. Margaret believed strongly in community and served and contributed to Concord's many lively organizations all her adult life. She led a Girl Scout troop, hosted foreign students through the American Friends Service Committee, was a member of the Conantum Garden Club, helped elect Arthur to the Planning Commission and Board of Selectman, supported theater through 51 Walden, had a quilting studio at the Emerson Umbrella and never missed a Town Meeting. She was a talented and enthusiastic musiciana€"playing in the Concord Band, singing madrigals, organizing a handbell group, and was for decades a member of the choir in the First Parish Church. Her spiritual home was in the Unitarian Church and over her 45 years in Concord she served the First Parish in many rolesa€"in the Women's Parish Association, working as Parish Collector and helping found the Dana McClean Greeley Foundation. Her community and neighbors in the Conantum section of Concord and on Oxbow Road were a joy of her life and she enjoyed tennis, the 4th of July fair in the gravel pit and the annual Christmas carol gatherings there always. She and Arthur made walking trips to England, Scotland and Ireland with the Appalachian Mountain Club and she enjoyed other travel in Europe and around the United States. New England's places, landscapes and history were another of Margaret's loves. She had three lively unclesa€"Frederick, Alan and Leonard Johnson and their families who lived respectively in Vermont, on Cape Cod and on the Merrimack River. Visiting them and her cousins and enjoying snow, boating, hiking and the outdoors were a constant in her life. The Stevenson family for many years had a cabin in Belgrade Lakes, Maine and helped found the Taconnet cooperative there. Margaret loved to play tennis and swim in in the lake and did so into her 80s. She was never happier than sitting on the porch in Maine sewing a quilt or reading and watching and listening to the loons and ospreys and the wind ruffling the lake surface. Margaret and Arthur started a new chapter in life in their 70s with a move to Peterborough, New Hampshire and RiverMead. During 14 years at RiverMead, Margaret continued her community-minded waysa€"writing for the newsletter, playing in the croquet league and bridge groups, leading fundraising efforts, serving on the Resident's Council and enjoying the company of many active friends and neighbors. Her family expresses their heartfelt thanks to the caring and talented staff at RiverMead who helped and cared for Margaret in recent years especially. In addition to her husband of nearly 60 years, Arthur Stevenson, Margaret is survived by her son Henry and his wife Susan, grandsons James and Andrew Stevensona€"all of Marlborough, Massachusetts and daughter Peg Stevenson and her partner Karen Topakian of San Francisco, California and by nieces and nephews and their families around the country on both the Johnson/McDougall and Stevenson sides of the family. Margaret's legacy to them and others is a rooted optimism and a joy in others' lives. She asked about, cared deeply and remembered the achievements and progress of relatives, friends and neighbors always. In lieu of flowers the family suggests that memorial contributions be made in Margaret's name to the Unitarian Universalist Association or to a charity of your choice. http://www.uua.org/ A memorial and celebration of her life will be held at RiverMead in Peterborough at 2 pm on Saturday June 4th with a reception to follow. All are warmly invited to join.

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