Margaret Diane (Peggy) Montgomery passed away on June 26, 2025 at home in Tarrytown, New York at the age of 87.
Peggy spent her early childhood in Western Massachusetts and Vermont, after which she lived primarily in Mattapoisett and Fairhaven, MA. Valedictorian of the class of 1955 in Fairhaven, she went on to attend Bates College (BA), where she majored in English. She earned a Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of Wisconsin. She taught English in Bethel, CT from 1959 to 1961, then at John Jay High School in Cross River, NY from 1961 to 1991. She once stated, “I had the luxury of teaching to my interests: British and American literature, from Shakespeare to O’Neill and the Canterbury Tales, women writers, 20th Century novels, [and] creative writing.” There are thousands of her former students who love language, literature, and learning today as a result of her incisive and subtly subversive lessons. A testament to this is the fact that she remained in regular contact with many of her students and participated in several ongoing John Jay alumni reading groups until shortly before her death. Peggy was a founding member of the John Jay High School Retired Teachers Association, which awards an annual scholarship for graduating high school seniors who plan to enter the teaching profession.
Peggy was a resident of Manhattan from 1961 to 2024, and in retirement, she expanded and deepened her ethic of service by volunteering in the city she loved. She shared her expertise at the New York Public Library Centers for Reading and Writing, the New York City Writing Project at Lehman College, and at Women in Need, where she conducted writing workshops for homeless single mothers. She also volunteered at the Caron Foundation, an addiction rehabilitation organization. She was founder and facilitator of the Manhattan chapter of OurPath.org.
Through the Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York, she served meals to the needy, worked on the Nuclear Disarmament Task Force, was a member of the Women’s Alliance and the Circle of Elders, and served as Deacon of the church. She was a delegate to the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly for eight years. Perhaps the culmination of her UU service came when she served as president of the Unitarian Universalist United Nations Office, which she described as some of the most rewarding work of her lifetime.
Peggy was predeceased by her parents, George E. Montgomery and Margaret S. Montgomery (née Fallon), both of Mattapoisett, MA.
She is survived by her sister, Linda J. Tunstall, and brother-in-law, Cuthbert Tunstall of Fairhaven, MA. A private family interment will follow in Mattapoisett, MA.
Memorial contributions may be made to:
1) The Unitarian Church of All Souls in New York
https://onrealm.org/allsoulsnyc/-/form/give/now or 2) The Mattapoisett Free Public Library
https://www.mattapoisettlibrary.org/Pages/Index/182750/donate-wishlist
These comments are thanks, in part, to Lois Chazen, who profiled Peggy for the All Souls Quarterly in Spring 2010.– David Quinn, JJHS ‘71.
