About Margaret

Margaret Stewart Lindsay was born on December 11, 1937, and raised in Davenport Iowa along with her siblings Anne and James. Her parents Edwin B. Lindsay and Elizabeth S. Lindsay were a prominent local family: Margaret’s great-grandfather co-founded the Lindsay & Phelps Company, a successful lumber business, and her father, Edwin B. Lindsay, took over as president of both Lindsay & Phelps and the Southern Lumber Companies, also founded by Edwin Lindsay. The Lindsay’s were a generous and civic-minded family, and among many other philanthropic gestures, they donated the grounds of their former paper mill for what is now known as Lindsay Park in Davenport.

Margaret and her family lived in an historic home at 224 Prospect Terrace adjacent to Lindsay Park, where she attended the local public schools, graduating from Davenport High School in 1955. She matriculated from the College of Wooster in Ohio in 1959 with a major in music, and taught one year of elementary school in Wooster before receiving her teaching degree at Columbia Teacher’s College in New York City.

Margaret was married in New York City in 1962 and moved to Louisburg Square in Boston where taught briefly at the Brimmer and May School in Brookline. Her marriage ended in divorce two years later, and in 1968 she purchased her much-beloved home at 2 Acorn Street on Beacon Hill. In 1989 she purchased a summer home on Lake Tashmoo on Martha’s Vineyard where she would eventually live full-time and happily spend the last years of her life. Margaret loved to travel, and it was shortly after returning from a trip to Russia that she died suddenly on October 17, 1999.

The defining moment of Margaret’s life occurred when her father suddenly took his own life when Margaret was just 14 years old. This tragedy deeply affected her, who by nature was a lively, fun-loving, open, and kindhearted girl. After her father’s death, Margaret lost her sense of security and she struggled with periodic bouts of depression, even though she was also able to maintain her witty sense of humor and gregarious (occasionally outrageous!) love of life. Those who knew Margaret will always remember her easy laugh, playfulness, and loyal friendship while admiring her ability to gracefully deal with the lifelong pain she endured from that tragedy.

Margaret was also a generous spirit who read to blind law students, helped friends and strangers alike if they were in need, and was always compassionate to those less financially fortunate. Margaret loved music, the arts, and entertaining; she would become enamored of a local artist and invite her friends over to Acorn Street for dinner, where she would remove the artwork on the walls and replace it with those of the artist in hopes of a sale. She also served for many years as a trustee of the Community Music Center of Boston.

Honoring her wishes, upon her death the Margaret Stewart Lindsay Foundation was created to continue her joie de vivre and generosity of spirit.